Firey and Furious
by Dan Rush
Summary: Astro and Atlas boy join the volcano chasing crew of Dante's Peak with Mount Fuji becoming a dangerous threat to Japan at every second. Some swearing and minor sexual references are made.
1. Chapter 1

_**FIREY AND FURIOUS**_

An Astro boy, Dante's Peak cross over

By Dan

Astro boy © 1954 Osamu Tezuka © Sony Pictures. Dante's Peak © 1997 Universal and Pacific Western Pictures. All rights respected, Non-Monitary fandom enjoyment only.

Note: Astro Boy Character based off the PLUTO manga series.

Pierce Brosnan as Dr. Harry Dalton

Grant Heslov as Greg

Kirk Trutner as Terry

Arabella Field as Nancy

Tzi Ma as Stan

**June 16****th**** 2013**

**US Geological Survey office**

**Vancouver, Washington**

Greg Heslov came bursting through the door of the equipment lab spilling the contents of his coffee cup out of the rim as he shook a fist at each occupant. "Alright! Who did it?! You must think its fricken hilarious to replace my coffee with dirt!"

From his desk where he'd been carefully soldering a circuit card into a detection box till Greg had spilt liquid under his shirt collar. Terry Everston whirled around on his stool and calmly took the cup from Greg's hand. "Dude? You almost made me turn this two thousand dollar set in a two thousand dollar paper weight."

"I didn't do it." Stan Hung said as he threw up his hands. "I don't want to die."

"Well someone did it!" Greg snapped as he crossed his arms. "These little pranks are just fine man, I can live with em really…till someone screws with my coffee maker! Coffee no touch!, you guys got that?"

"Honestly Greg? You really do bitch too much." Came a voice from behind the frustrated geologist. "And if you need to find the culprit? It was me."

Doctor Harry Dalton stood in the open door with his field jacket slung over his shoulder and a large coffee in his hand. "Just to be fair? I brought you a peace offering."

"Prick!" Greg snorted as he pointed at Harry. "Who put you up to it Harry? One of these guys asked you didn't they?"

"Who asked you to go screwing with my equipment up at Mount Saint Helens last month?" Harry replied smirking. "You made the mistake of using a different soldering wire on that one so I knew it wasn't Greg. You also can't keep your mouth shut."

Harry waved the coffee in his hands. "You remember the equipment truck Greg? The F-150 I drove like a bat out of hell to get off Johnston Ridge when the instruments kind of indicated St. Helens was about to blow her top again? The F-150 I rolled about seven times? Lucky for me the harness worked so well."

Harry put the coffee in Greg's hand. "And lucky for you I decided not to tell Gordon about the whole thing."

Greg felt like a complete ass. "Well….we did get a new truck though? That old clunker smoked as bad as Terry."

"Hmmm…." Harry seemed to agree.

"So Harry?" Stan asked as he stood wiping oil from his hands. "You haven't explained why you didn't take Paul's place after he was killed at Dante's Peak. I mean we all agreed you should have had the post, you have the experience."

Paul Drefus was the director of the Pacific USGS office at the time Harry and his crew were caught flat by the swiftness of Mount Dante's Peak's buildup to a catastrophic eruption. Though their relationship at times had been combative, Drefus always had Harry's deepest respect as a field man. His death was so meaningless that it would leave a permanent burn in Harry's heart.

"I couldn't." Harry said as he leaned against a desk. "I didn't want to be the one to empty Paul's office and I couldn't do his job anyways, I'd probably get myself fired from being to board behind that desk or being too bitchy to some Presidential staffer. Mount Reiner was a good example wasn't it?"

Nancy nodded with a smirk. "But you were right…the Interior director was a complete douche bag along with his brother in law President. Probably the last time they tell us to go "jack" ourselves when old Reiner flattens a national park with a 30 foot Lahar."

Terry grabbed his ringing phone. "They were lucky it wasn't worse….yeah?" Terry turned to Harry. "Harry? Gordon needs to see you."

Gordon Pursell wasn't like Paul, at least in what Harry thought was a critical difference. Pursell had a limited interest in putting "delicate politics" over caution when it came to volcanos. He was quick to realize a "frog in the slow boiling pot" situation, the one that ended up killing Drefus at Dante's Peak. Pursell was more apt to listen to his field people over some complaining politician. He was a classic "field hand" too, fit and aptly marked with scars and weathering about his face and eyes. His brown hair was just starting to show whisps of greying and he dispatched the unofficial requirement of upper dress demanded by his public relations position for worn steel toed boots, thick multi-pocketed military like pants and a worn, fraying cotton shirt.

At the moment, Pursell was watching his television as Harry entered the office. "Hey Harry…take a seat and watch this for a bit?"

The NBC Today show was on with a reporter standing at some police roadblock talking about numerous fatalities from a natural gas pipeline failure somewhere in japan…

"Some one's going to be boiling in a pan over this." Harry said as he watched for a moment then turned to Pursell. "What's the business of the day?"

Pursell turned the television off. "To Joe Public? It's a gas leak. That's all anyone should know for now." Pursell handed Harry a folder. "This came to us through encrypted e-mail from the Japanese Ministry of Science an hour ago."

Harry took the file, opened it, scanned it and closed it. "785 people asphyxiated in their sleep in the middle of the night…Sulfur Flourine?"

"Someone working for the Ministry deduced that. They found a large burst fissure on the outskirts of the village. The same individual was conducting a series of tests that weekend around Mount Fuji when the event occurred."

Harry crossed his arms. "You're about to tell me that something significant is going on am I right?"

"It's no secret that the Japanese have been monitoring Fuji since 2001. With the great Sendai Earthquake in 2011, the attention was increased. Mount Fuji usually doesn't keep quiet after a major subduction zone earthquake, the eruptions of 1707, 1428 and 1234 have records of a major catastrophic earthquake two years before that abruptly altered the tectonics in the region."

Harry nodded seriously. "We're heading to Japan then?"

"Start packing your crew for a flight first thing tomorrow morning. An arrangement's been made for you to meet with the Ministry of Science representative once you arrive. Right now the focus is to assess the potential threats, help the Japanese set up additional monitoring by your direction and assist the government in emergency planning based on what you and the crew come up with. As always Harry? You have a free hand, if you happen to piss off some minister in the process and you need to slug him in the face? It's your call."

Pursell gave Harry a card. "This came with the e-mail, it's the number of the lead Chief Inspector of the Japanese national constabulary force. The Japanese government is keeping a tight lip on all this for as long as possible, total news blackout. He wants you to call him in case you have problems with the media, he has no problem applying a corrective baseball bat to Brian Williams, Ted Turner, Glen Beck or any other wild eyed camera jockey."

Harry took the card and turned to walk out of the office.

"And Harry?" Pursell said as he stuck his hands into his pockets. "Don't go taking your usual wild risks on this one? Then again you'll do it anyways so just get out of here."

Harry walked back to the electronics lab and caught Stan walking out. "Tell everyone to stop whatever they're up too and start putting equipment together and getting inventories Stan? We just got a ticket to Japan and we have to be on the plane in the morning."

"Nice of them to give us some spare time." Stan complained.

"Couldn't be helped given the location, we're going to Mount Fuji." Harry replied as he followed Stan back into the lab.

"Mount Fuji?" Greg asked as Harry passed him by. "The….Mount Fuji?"

"Yeah. Last time I checked there's only one Mount Fuji in the world Greg." Harry replied. "And it's apparent the current situation is mid-range on the scale of concern, things could go from tranquility to hell real fast."

"I'll get the COSPEC meters. "Nancy said as she walked towards a closet.

"Coffe maker, have to pack the coffee maker." Greg said as he reached into a cabinet and pulled down a pair of un-opened coffee bacgs.

Stan leaned to Harry's side. "You know I have relatives in Gotemba? Should I tell them to pack?"

"You do and I'm supposed to call the Japanese police." Harry said smirking. "I'm sure you always wanted to spend a night in your underwear in a Japanese prison Stan?"

Stan smiled back. "Didn't I tell you I was an expert at nude Kabuki fan dancing?"

**June 17****th**** 2013**

**Ministry of Science**

**Metro City Japan**

For the first time in 72 hours, Astro was undisturbed and comfortably wrapped around a body pillow on Reno's pull out sofa. He'd been handled like a piece of taffy between government officials, scientists, volcanologists, geologists, seismologists, Doctor O'Shay, his bratty sister and the young 14-year-old heir to the Imperial throne and he was sucked dry of information and strength. The click of an air cooling hose and the brush of a tender hand against his cheek was wonderful. He reached out and held the hand, snuggling it under his head until the owner's smiling face came into view…

"Can I have it back?" Reno asked as he slowly pulled his hand back. "You getting enough rest?"

Astro rolled onto his back and snuggled against the pillow. "Yeah…mind turning the lights off? We want to be alone."

Reno laughed. "Don't start oozing oil all over my sheets!"

Astro rolled around again and sat up stretching his arms. "Guess that's enough for now. What other appointments do I have to keep today?"

"Nothing for now." Reno said as he pulled a chair close to the couch. "So? Best numbers?"

Astro pursed his lips, laid on his back and flicked his fingers as he processed what he had collected so far. "You're wondering about a possible eruption? Best process says yeah…when? Where? That's the tougher question. The whole 5 lakes region's been affected by the 2011 quake, so it's only a matter of time before something happens."

Reno scratched his head. "So….Fuji?"

"You're making my head smoke." Astro said as he rolled over onto his stomach. "I don't know. I don't think it's going to happen from the main cone, it didn't in 1707. I did talk with Doctor Takushi? He thinks Fuji could do a lateral blast like Mount St Helens. That's the worst case scenario."

Reno sat back and whistled. "That would suck."

Uh…..? Isn't this Thursday Princess Abby's birthday?" Astro asked.

"Oh shit!" Reno yelped as he flew from his chair and fell over himself as he scrambled for his desk. "Damn! I haven't gotten her anything yet! "Gasp! Gasp!" I'm going to look like a jerk!"

"Could you not freak out so you get yourself killed?" Astro asked as he moved to sit on the side of the couch. "I covered for you and sent her something with your name on it. She should get it tomorrow."

Reno froze and scowled. "Please tell me it's not perverted?"

"What?!" Astro snapped back. "You're kidding me aren't you? I wouldn't do something like that. Though…I dunno, do girls mind having Hello Kitty printed on their panties?"

"ASTRO!" Reno yelled. "Ugh!"

"You know you're too easy to stress out?" Astro said as he reached for his red boots. "That's not very healthy you know."

"You didn't buy her those did you? Please say you didn't?" Reno begged.

"No." Astro replied calmly. "I sent her an evening kimono with gifts from Zoran and me so relax. You are going to be free to help me when the people from the USGS show up tomorrow?"

"Yeah." Reno answered. "My time's empty till next week. I have a lot of appointments for robot work so I can't help you then."

Astro pulled his legs up into an indian style sit. "Good…now can you help me with another problem? What kind of a gift do I get for my school teacher that's appropriately sweet yet won't make the other kids in class think I'm a flaming suck up?"

Reno smirked. "Ooooooo….are we in love?"

"No!" Astro yelped. "No…I just want to give Miss Myoki something nice to thank her for… for being helpful to me and other robots at school…"

Reno leaned closer and smiled widely. "She has a nice behind doesn't she?"

"Yes….UGH!...Stop it!" Astro protested. Suddenly his eye lights flicked on, one of his rocket boots lit off and he cartwheeled around the room until he crashed into a book shelf!

"Hah! I knew it!" Reno celebrated in victory. "You got a crush on your teacher!"

Astro sat frowning with a book or two falling on his head. "Are you happy?!" He said upset.

Reno walked over and crouched in front of his annoyed friend. "It's not the end of the world. At least you're not on fire."

"I want to tell her." Astro said mournfully. "But I don't think I can take her answer too well."

"You won't know until you do." Reno said as he helped Astro to his feet. "Look…you helped me with Abby, let me return the favor? I know a sweet mom and pop restaurant in Ebina, nice food, tucked away where no one other than the locals go. I'll arrange the day, you take Miss Myoki out to dinner."

"But I…" Astro tried to talk but Reno covered his mouth.

"But nothing. I can't have you working around Fuji on such an important mission for the safety of thousands while you're suffering sparks, spits and smoking wires over Miss Myoki. Keep your head screwed on right and let me do the worrying?" Reno finished by rubbing a hand over Astro's head. "Are we clear Casanova?"

"Ok…" Astro replied. "I better get home for the night. You know Zoran, she's probably destroyed the house with pizza dough."

"Thy work?" Reno replied smiling. "Is never done."

"Never." Astro replied smiling as he walked to Reno's big picture window and slid the small side panel open. "I'll pick you up at 8 for Narita?"

"Yeah." Reno said as he walked up. "And what about Atlas?"

"For now?" Astro replied. "I'd rather not ask him, he'll complain all the way through and I can't concentrate when he's being bitchy in my ear." Astro waved. "See yah."

"Yup." Reno waved back as Astro flew off.

**Doctor O'Shay's House**

**Metro City**

"Wow! Clean?" Astro said as he stuck his head through the front door. He tried to sneak towards the stairs to his room but he didn't get far before a small hand snatched his shirt and dragged him into the kitchen.

"You were going to ditch dinner?" Zoran said as she pushed Astro towards a chair. "That's just rude."

"I uh….already had a can of oil?" Astro replied as Zoran made him sit.

"Nice try…next time you want to ditch out big brother? Be more creative? Try this new meat and veggie wrap I made for Doctor O'Shay and tell me what you think?"

Astro made a gesture as if his head was in a noose only to get a good slap off the head. "Just try it! Grrrrr….you can be such a creep!"

"Of course you had to pick me because I can't die right?" Astro said sarcastically. Zoran's suddenly angry face made him think twice about any more smart comments. Timidly, Astro cut himself a piece of the bread wrap and popped it into his mouth…

He chewed it a few times…looked up…..chewed a few more….looked up again….

"Stop making those faces and tell me what you think?!" Zoran yelped expectantly.

Astro smiled…"Wow…! You made this? You didn't get Nora to help you at all?"

"No." Zoran replied confidently. "And as you see…I cleaned up after myself."

Astro took another bite. "Zoran?...This is awesome! Where did you find the recipe?"

"I didn't. It was all trial and error hand scratched, trust me my earlier ones were a disaster." Zoran stood pleased as Astro gobbled up the rest of the wrap.

"The Doctor is going to have a heart attack and die happily over this, I swear Zoran you're cooking is getting better every day! Now that's my little sis!"

Astro stood up and took Zoran by her shoulders. "Hey…could you do this for say….Miss Myoki?

"I could." Zoran replied. "You gonna have her over for dinner?"

"Yeah…..yeah, I want to do something special for her. Reno's trying to arrange a night out at a restaurant but….I'd….rather have it quieter…just me and her."

Zoran smiled widely…"I was told NOT to help you by Reno. He says you want to make out with her."

Astro's eyes jumped. "Ugh!...that's…..THAT'S NOT TRUE!"

Zoran snorted back. "I'd do it for you big brother? But it's going to really, really cost you, I mean big time pay me cost you….super pay me cost you…"

Astro shuddered. "Alright! What do you want….Jessie James."

Zoran smirked evilly. "You have to arrange a night for me with Atlas…and….you have to be our servant and do everything we want."

Astro gasped. "NO WAY! NO WAY IN A FROZEN HELL!"

Zoran sighed and rubbed her finger tips against her chest. "Oh well…then I guess I can't keep my big mouth shut can I? By tomorrow everyone in your Junior High School will know you have a perverted crush on Miss Myoki….how will you explain that big brother?"

Astro shook visibly. "Oh…..all right….all right….ALL RIGHT! I'm going to ask Doctor O'Shay to reprogram you so you can't learn bribery again."

Zoran flashed a victory sign and smiled widely as her brother stomped away. "You better be nicer to me Astro or I might force you to do it in a pokemon costume."

"Don't expect it to happen soon Sis. I have that work on Mount Fuji to do first."

"I can be very patient." Zoran replied with an innocent look on her face.

**June 18****th****, 2013**

**ANA Flight 213**

**(4 hours from Narita)**

Harry sat sipping a Sapporo beer and looking over the data the Ministry of Science had sent, about the 4th time he'd done it so far on the flight. Nancy leaned over behind him, staring at his lap top as he processed a few figures into a complex Excel spread sheet program.

"You could get some sleep there Superman?" Nancy said as she rested her head on a palm." Any brilliant deductions?"

Harry rubbed the back of his neck. "Besides the fact that the whole region is a geologic wrecking yard? The 2011 quake really did a number on the tectonics. Judging by what we have so far, we could have lava flows, fissure fires, crustal rips or a super nova…take your pick?"

Nancy gave Harry a note book. "I've been doing my own figures based on the chemical readings and past experience. The only thing they haven't done yet is a sample of the local drinking wells, the aquifers. We need to do that right off the bat when we get there to see if volcanic residue is intruding. Same thing that happened at Dante's and Mount Pinatubo in the Philippines. I've also been working on a factoring equation to tune some of our radio receivers for low intensity rock shearing, basically turn them into a Japanese "P" wave meter? If something does happen, that might give us at least a 15 minute early warning."

Harry nodded. "You've been busy."

"You don't call me "Tinker Bell" for nothing. I don't know if that nickname's a compliment or if I should file a sexual harassment lawsuit against you." Nancy said with a smirk.

"If…I bought you a beer, would that settle the matter?" Harry replied. "I'd like you to handle one aspect of this though? We'll need a detailed cross sectional analysis of Fuji's material composition. Try to determine the mountain's structural stability. Doctor O'Shay informed me that he has a person specifically assigned to help with that."

"Yeah." Nancy replied as she took a cup of beer from a steward. "I'll take that on. I have to admit though…my Japanese is pathetic."

"No problem." Harry replied. "Your help is multi-lingual though I've never met him before and the Doctor seemed hesitant to say anything else about him."

**June 18****th****, 2013**

**International Arrival concourse**

**Narita Airport**

Reno gave Astro's hand a slap. "Stop digging in your nose! That's really appropriate and dignified. Here…" Reno handed Astro a handkerchief. "A super high tech representation of Japanese science and you're picking your nose, gee what will Miss Myoki think?"

"Cut it out?" Astro snipped back as he cleaned his nose and handed the folded hanky back to Reno. "As always you're wide awake and cheerful…..and bitchy."

Reno smiled back and lightly poked Astro's head. "Well please….keep your electronic brain on the problem?"

"I will if you'll stop bringing her up!" Astro snapped.

"Oooooo!...touchy! Your human emotions are going crazy again." Reno said sarcastically before throwing an arm around Astro's shoulders. "You know if I didn't tease you every so often, you might think I don't care about you?"

Astro smiled back. "I look forward every day to your abuses."

Reno looked down at the sign Astro was holding. "You know? I bet we'd get a lot of attention if we wrote…"Will pimp robot for food." On that?"

It wasn't much longer before Harry came through the double doors from customs with his crew and all their equipment in tow. He saw the two boys standing with a name sign off to the side, the shorter one giving him a wave and a broad smile while his partner stood with his arms crossed looking at his younger companion as if he was being too overly excited.

"Ohyo Gozaimasu…Namai wa Dalton Harry no Sensei des." Harry bowed and shook Astro's hand. Reno said something in Japanese that caused Astro to slap him off the shoulder!

"Well he does!" Reno said as he pointed to Harry.

"And you complain about me being dignified?" Astro snapped. He turned to Harry… "Sorry…Reno says you look like Indiana Jones."

Harry looked back at his crew, most of them were smirking back. One could probably say the description was aptly close given Harry's history of close cuts with volcanoes. "I'm not one to dispute the claim…so I take it you are Adam?"

Astro looked at Reno then back at Harry. "Adam? Oh you mean Atom…the Doctor must have told you my Japanese name…"

"I like Adam." Reno said in English. "Sounds more human."

"I go by several names but I like Astro best." Astro said as he gestured. "If you'll all follow us, we'll take you up to the "CP" in Gonsomiru."

Harry and the others followed Astro and Reno through the airport and out to the parking building where the ministry van was parked.

"So where is Doctor O'Shay?" Harry asked as Astro opened the back cargo door to the van.

"He's at the Ministry meeting with some Government officials. You can imagine how things have been since last summer." Astro said as he stood back to allow the crew to load up.

"Wait a second." Terry said as he looked at Astro. "Who's driving?"

Astro bobbed on his toes. "I am. Don't worry, I have my license."

"What are you?" Terry asked sarcastically. "Ten or eleven?"

Reno butted in. "Actually he's a very intelligent 5 year old…has a crush on his 7th grade teacher….quite the horn dog like Justin Beiber…"

"Smack!" "Will you shut up!" Astro snapped as he slapped a hand into Reno's stomach and knocked the wind out of him. "Sigh…forgive Reno please? Sometimes he can be an insufferable wise ass."

"It's just unusual." Terry said. "Didn't think kids would be allowed to drive."

"Well if Astro was a kid, I'd be worried too." Reno said as he recovered his breath. "He's a robot."

Nancy turned her head like that hilarious hamster in those You Tube videos. "You're?! Oh my God this is awesome! Awesome! Awesome! I have wanted to meet you, there's been so much about you but I never…"

Astro was looking around in a near panic until Harry calmly motioned Nancy not to make too big a scene, which made Astro sigh in relief. "Thank you…it's hard enough to have somewhat of a normal life as it is." He looked at Nancy. "I'm not upset but it would probably serve both of us better if we kept things like this sort of quiet?"

Harry pointed to Nancy. "You'll be working with her by the way, at least the name that was given to me matches correct?"

"Sure." Astro said smiling. He then caught Reno smirking at him. "What?"

"Another girl? Wow….Miss Myoki's not going to like that." Reno said.

"Excuse me?" Astro said as he switched to Japanese. "Looks like some one needs to dig their underwear out of their…..BUTT!" He said to Reno with a warning finger.

**June 18****th****, 2013**

**National Highway**

Greg Heslov waved from his seat. "Do you think we could stop somewhere for coffee?"

"Where do you put it all?" Stan Hung asked. "Greg's like the black hole of Sanka, they can't process a coffee field fast enough to keep up with him."

Reno looked back from the passenger's seat. "What would you like?"

"French Espresso?" Greg replied. He heard and felt a humming noise around his chair and saw a cup pop up from a flip door on his arm rest. "No way! A coffee maker built into the car, of

"You need some serious therapy man." Stan said smirking.

Harry was sitting behind Astro's seat and leaned forwards with a piece of paper in his hands. "I'm sure what you discovered on your research trip wasn't the only cause for elevated concern was it?"

"They've been watching Fuji since 2001 when there was a 5.6 magnitude earthquake below the summit. Between then and the big 2011 earthquake the activity was infrequent until the Saigo freeway tunnel collapse last December."

"Killed 29 people." Harry replied.

"At first they suspected shoddy construction, bad bolts in the skeleton support lattices." Astro said. "Till the results of the non-destructive tests found nothing wrong. That's when Doctor O'Shay got a call from Professor Aramaki. He retired as Dean of Tokyo University three years ago. He asked the Doctor to have me do a laser bore sighting of the tunnel on the sly. I found that the tunnel deformed 23 feet to the North and 18 feet vertically on a span of 700 yards and it happened "snap!". "

Harry sighed. "Deformation and uplift. What about the magma chamber pressure?"

"Last time a survey was performed it was estimated at 1.6 megapascals. That was in 2008." Reno said. "They think it only takes 1.2 to cause an eruption so the gun trigger is under tension so to speak."

"The tragedy of Nurajima Village was only the latest in a series of fissure eruptions around the Fuji area since 2008, one of seven so far erupting trapped gas and steam. But Nurajima finally pulled the decision for full blown monitoring. You'll meet Professor Aramaki when we get to the "CP"." Astro said as he popped a can of oil and downed a swig.

After an hour of driving and passing between a gap in the ring of mountain humps that surrounded the Fuji valley plain, the mountain itself came into view. Fuji's 14 thousand foot prominent cone belied its true size from ground level, in fact the mountain sloped much farther into the valley, the actual mountain was 110 miles in diameter and 345 miles in circumference.

"Kengamine-kame da" or "Lord of Thunder" was Fuji's main crater at its summit but the volcano hadn't erupted from that in centuries. "Hoei-Yama-Kokan" or Great Hoei was the last eruption crater from 1707 on the South East flank. Hoei was proof that Fuji was far from a classical Strato-volcano and even far more dangerous given that it an eruption could come from any location at any time within its 345 mile sphere of dominance.

Astro pointed to Fuji and smirked. "There's an old Japanese saying about Fuji..."You're fleas on my back so behave yourselves or I'll shake you off. Someone forgot to feed the dog his Scooby Snacks."

Stan waved a hand. "What's the latest seismicity?"

"As of the past seven days…247 micro-quakes, nothing closely clustered to within 20 square miles but concentrated between 11:30 and 3:45 on the topographical maps. The northwest side and lower flanks.

Stan replied. "And the lake levels? Have they checked for uplift?"

Astro scratched his head as his computer brain picked through a mountain of collected data. "Lake Sai recorded an increased volume and level in the summer of last year. Professor Aramaki came back and said the lake bed was normal. He thinks it was increased melt water from the mountain's summit top caused by increasing heat from some fumerals up there."

"**CP" Mount Fuji Monitoring Command Post, Gonsomeru**

**Afternoon June 18, 2013**

Professor Shinjo Aramaki was a small man with white pony tailed hair, a white moustache and a white goatee who though could be considered quite comical in his oversized eye glasses was not so if you were on the end of his fierce nature. Just because he was almost 80 years old did not mean he was less agile, as aptly shown by how fast he covered the ground from the stack of connex box offices to the poor college kid who just dumped a box of sensor equipment from a truck.

As Astro pulled the van through the gate of the makeshift concrete block walled complex, the Professor was almost jumping off the ground in a finger whipping tirade that looked hilarious.

"I see he hasn't changed much in years?" Harry said as he pointed.

"That's probably his more mellow state." Reno replied. "After Doctor O'Shay adopted me? I have to study physical mechanics for a year under him…my shirt hides the whip marks."

The professor turned when he saw the van come to a stop. "We will discuss the matter of your slippery fingers in due course young man." Aramaki warned as he started walking towards the crew as they climbed out. "Harry Dalton…how long has it been?" The professor said as he reached out a hand. He then quickly slapped Reno in the stomach. "What did I tell you about slouching?"

"Sensei!" Reno replied gasping. "I just got out after a long drive…"

"Don't start making excuses." Aramaki warned. "Smart young man…just lacking social graces."

"And a lump of ass." Reno snapped back. He quickly threw his hands up when Aramaki threatened to slap him again.

Harry introduced his crew then followed Aramaki towards the stacks of connex offices. "Your robot friend briefed us somewhat on the way here, I take it not everything?"

"Correct." Aramaki replied. "You can set up your office in that upper section then we'll get you all settled in a hotel we took over about a half a mile from here. As things stand, we're sitting on a "ready to run" site for the moment, the government is building another to the South-West of Hoei crater. It's the North East that's the present concern."

Aramaki ushered Harry's crew towards the connex then turned back to Astro. "I need you to do something for me…I want you to survey the Saigo tunnel again? Base that off your previous measurements."

Astro nodded. "Yes Professor…"

"Also? Take air and temperature samples as well?" The professor said. Then he pointed to Reno. "Make sure he works?"

Astro bowed slightly then walked over to Reno, who was still unloading the van. "He can be a real prick."

Astro put his hands on his hips and shook his head. "Some of it rubbed on you I might point out?"

"Let's go?!" Reno snapped as he pushed Astro ahead of him.

After two hours, Harry's crew had enough of their operation set up to meet with Aramaki in a large white tent set up at the other end of the compound. With him were three other collogues from Tokyo University in charge of their own monitoring teams, a representative from the Government Ministry for Public Safety and Disaster Readiness and General Ushijima Shojo, Chief of the JMSDF's Kanto region ground forces. All of them gathered around a large map table upon which was spread a topographic scroll map of the Fuji plain. Aramaki was the obvious selected manager overall as he took center stage with the group leadership standing around and behind him. He pulled a retractable pointer from his pocket.

"Allow me to bring our American partners up to date. Since the Nurajima tragedy of last week, and the survey conducted by the science ministry, we have identified a circumference area of 50 square miles on Fuji-san's North West flank as the most possible area for an eruptive event. This area includes….Masaendake Prominant below Dainanan crater rim, South East to Tokyo-kun ridge, North East to Ue-Etsuda Village, North West to Station 8 on the primary public climbing route and back to Masaendake, our primary point of concern. Of course the total area given Mount Fuji's physical make up is much larger. Doctor Dalton is taking charge of assessing the material composition of the mountain's lower elevation."

Aramaki opened another map, one with colored crayon scribbled about in un-even circular forms. "What you see here? Is a final compilation of 5 years worth of temperature studies over the Fuji plain. In particular, the Northwest flank consistently shows longer and irregular release of stored heat drawn from daylight exposure in all seasons. Even though it's composed of volcanic soils, we should not see such irregular or slow dissipation of thermal energy. It was the conclusion of a geology panel that magma is slowly finding its way towards the surface from the main magma chamber. Only continued "geo-luck" is keeping events in our favor. I feel that we have a three year window at best, Fuji-san is going to erupt and we are on borrowed time."

General Ushijima moved to the table next. "We have for now, kept the news from the national populace. Japan is still recovering from the great earthquake of 2011 and currently our military is being tasked by the national government to cover problematic circumstances with China over the disputed Nichi Islands so our capabilities are stretched thin. We have mobilized a quick reaction battalion to control immediate access to the Fuji plain and a full division is on 24 hour alert should evacuation be required."

"We are making preparations around the worst case event laid out by the Professor, A Mount Saint Helens lateral blast from the Northeast flank. Such an eruption could cause a complete collapse of Fuji-san's summit cone, producing massive lahars that would inundate the plain and the rivers and sending a pyroclastic flow that would destroy an area of 30 to 35 square miles from the summit. The eruption that would follow would cover the Kanto region, Tokyo, Yokohama and the major metropolitan and industrial regions of the country in 50 feet of ash. I will not elaborate on the tolls…they will be….horrific. Evacuation…will be a nightmare. In short? We need as much advanced warning as possible."

Aramaki pointed to the map. "What we will be doing here will give the government a final report to make an appropriate response the population. The Prime Minister's intention is to prepare the nation to react and reduce as much as possible the implications, especially financial, that this event will cause. Our primary concern of course is human life, it's why we are all in this field so let us not deviate from that responsibility no matter who we deal with."

Aramaki turned to Harry. "I'll take you and your team to the hotel to settle in Harry? After that we'll spend time planning your requirements."

"Of course." Harry replied as the meeting broke up.

**4pm 18 June 2013**

**The Abandoned Saigo Tunnel**

**5 miles from Fujioshima**

**15 Miles North of Fuji's summit**

Astro and Reno stood at the entrance as Reno fiddled with the adjusting straps on his Kevlar helmet. "You look so dorky." Astro quipped as he stood typing into the computer pad that was stored on his chest door.

"Just being safe." Reno replied. "I know you'll pull me out real quick but I feel safer."

Reno watched as Astro stripped down to his black trunks, even throwing his red moon boots aside. He looked silly standing and stretching himself out as if he was going to run a marathon.

"That's just pointless." Reno snorted. "Why do you get out of your clothes every time you do something? It's not like you're going to get them ripped up on this job?"

"I don't want to get them dirty." Astro replied.

Reno shook his head. "See?...unlike me, you have a sister. Give Zoran a little responsibility? Nothing will make her more likely to be less of a burden on you than her having to wash your muddy, oil covered and filth ridden clothes."

Astro smirked back. "That's sexist Reno to say being totally mean. If I don't have to cause needless waste of water, add to Doctor O'Shay's financial burdens and treat my sister like she's a slave then I have no excuse."

Reno snorted. "You just don't have any balls."

Astro was reaching for his shorts till Reno slapped his shoulder. "You don't have to prove it dufus!"

Astro handed him a small hand mirror and the computer pad. "It's calibrated and set. Just like the last time we'll do ten shots across the tunnel, ten shots up and down. The pad will beep if the readings changed. I'll also get some air and surface samples too."

Reno followed Astro as they walked through the mouth and into the dark and damaged tunnel. "I had a thought? It's just a crazy idea actually but….remember Makijimu Island?"

"Makijimu volcano two years ago? Already thought of it….wouldn't work."

Reno scratched his head. "I know the limits of the surge cannon. If they could bore a drilling shaft from the South coast then get you a diamond drilling rig so you could drive it North towards the magma chamber till you were almost there?"

Astro shook his head. "For one thing? Makijimu was a slow oozing volcano that was pretty well vented? Do you know what would happen if I uncorked a 1.6 megapascal magma chamber? Goodbye me and goodbye most of costal Japan. How about I set you on a 250 megaton nuclear bomb? You wouldn't like that."

"Did I say it would be you?" Reno said smiling. "I was thinking more of Atlas or Blue Knight or who else is a big pompous ass we could connive into thinking there's gold beyond the wall of rock they should dig?"

Astro huffed. "You really are bidding to be creep of the year aren't you?"

"I'm trying to make your life easier?" Reno replied. After ten minutes of walking, Astro took his first reading across the tunnel and got a beep from the computer pad…

"The width here has relaxed." Astro said as he puckered his lips. "About 7 feet."

Reno then stood under as Astro hovered near the ceiling. "The height has grown….7 feet."

Astro took a deep breath and hovered with his eyes closed. "Air's normal."

They walked deeper into the tunnel, Astro turning on his eye lights as they began to run into debris from the fallen concrete shell around them. "Let's take readings here." Astro said as he walked to one side and shot a lazer off the mirror Reno held at the other. The computer pad beeped again. Astro took a reading from the ceiling and again the pad beeped.

"Contracted…5 feet…expanded….7 feet…." Astro said. He breathed again and paused…"Air normal."

Reno shined his flashlight around the surfaces of the tunnel. "I don't remember so many cracks in the shell the last time we did this do you?" He asked.

"No." Astro replied. "Of course it was right after the accident too and most of the tunnel around the collapse was under a great amount of shifted stress." Astro looked at the computer pad for a moment then they continues their walk.

"Hey?" Reno asked. "If Doctor O'Shay could make you a girl friend? Have you thought of what she'd look like?"

Astro gave him a weird look. "So you assume I'd want a girl friend? What if I wanted a boy friend?"

Reno's eyes bugged out. "Uhhhh…."

"Never thought that would come up huh?" Astro said slyly. He then laughed! "Look at your face! You're all pruned out!"

"Well you started it!" Reno snapped.

Astro threw a hand out. "Don't worry…It's so easy to make you nervous…of course I think about having a girl friend…just…haven't met the right bot yet."

"Well….if the Doc could make you one, have you thought about what she'd look like?"

Astro pursed his lips. "If the Doctor made her and since he made Zoran, that would make this girl my sister which would be incest which would be kinda weird."

Reno looked perplexed. "Will you stop with the analytical nonsense and just answer the question?" He complained. "Ok! Someone else makes her."

Astro stopped walking. "Here's the next reading point. I'd say…she'd look like Tarna the Terakian from Heavy Metal combined with Jessica Rabbit."

Reno chuckled. "My aren't you greedy?"

Astro walked off to shoot his laser finger. "Actually? I want her to have gold hair, down to the middle of her back? She'd be my height, very pretty…"

"Beep" The computer pad noised. Astro took off over the top of Reno and shot downwards. "Beep." The computer pad noised again. "Wow…." Astro said as he came down to look at the pad…"10 feet contraction….10 feet expansion at this part?"

Reno tilted his head. "And? Go on….pretty?"

"Air normal…there's been real radical changes and you're worried about what I think of a girl?" Astro asked.

The boys started walking again. "You have me intrigued." Reno replied as he shrugged.

"Soft skin and soft lap." Astro said. "Has to have that. When she touches me? My foot has to bounce like a jack hammer."

Reno smirked. "You're getting stranger every day."

Astro suddenly froze, his hand reaching out slowly till it gripped Reno's arm. Defensively, Astro pulled Reno close to his side…

"What?" Reno asked concerned.

Astro started to push Reno towards the side of the tunnel real fast. "That's a "P" wave…earthquake's on the way!"

"Shit…" Reno snapped as Astro pushed him to the ground and stood over him, arching himself against the wall. "What are we doing…."

The tunnel started to shake violently! "It would have been stupid to try and fly out!" Astro screamed! "Just hang on and don't freak out!"

Concrete broke from the surrounding tunnel shell, one slab nailed Astro on the back causing him to fall to his hands and knees over Reno before the shaking stopped. Everything around them became a dust filled haze…

Reno reached up to feel Astro's face…"You ok?"

"I bench press like 10,000 tons so I hope so." Astro replied as he stood up and shook the dust off him-self. "That was a 5.3 at least."

"We're going to have to re-do all the measurements." Reno said as he pointed around.

Astro suddenly picked Reno up and threw him over his shoulder. "Who's this "we"?"

"Now wait a minute!" Reno complained as Astro flew him out of the tunnel. "I'm not going to let you sit in there alone!"

"I'll go splat? Really?" Astro said as he dumped Reno on the ground. "Sit and relax. Here…" Astro handed Reno his computer pad. "Play a game or two to pass the time."

"What?" Before he could say anything else…Astro was gone. "Crazy bot."

"**CP" Mount Fuji Monitoring Command Post, Gonsomeru**

**4:38pm, June 18, 2013**

"5.8 shallow quake, 1 mile east of Masaendake Prominent, duration 45 seconds." Stan said as he typed away on his note book computer.

"You did get the COSPEC gear on board that chopper right?" Harry asked Terry as he was grabbing his own computer.

"Yeah boss, on board and ready to rock." Terry replied as he and Harry walked from the connex and met Professor Aramaki half way to the waiting helicopter.

"Professor? Is there any way I can contact your friend…Astro?" Harry asked.

"Yes…by cell phone its "ATOMBLAST" with a pound at the end."

Terry smirked. "A little complex he's got huh Harry?"

"I wouldn't ask him to back it up, might give you a heart attack." Harry replied as he jumped into the passenger compartment and pulled his cell phone…

"Hi." Astro's voice came through as the helicopter took off.

"It's Doctor Dalton, Astro. We're on our way to survey the epicenter of the earthquake that just occurred. Where are you at the moment?"

"Just finishing readings in the Saigo Tunnel." Astro replied as he walked out of the opening and met up with Reno. "The whole tunnel's shifted from the previous survey readings. Who do I send these too besides the Professor? You have e-mail?"

"Yes." Harry replied. "DaltonH ."

"Sent." Astro replied. "The Professor sent me another order about 30 minutes ago Doctor Dalton so if you have something more important?"

"Nothing at the moment, thank you." Harry replied. "Will you be busy tonight? I was wondering if you like sushi?"

Astro smiled. "Yeah! Don't mind if I bring my friend Reno do you?"

"No problem at all." Harry said as he turned to start adjusting the equipment he and Terry brought with them. "I'll spot so don't worry about paying."

"All right." Astro replied smirking. "I warn you though…I really love my sushi."

Terry looked up from his computer. "He eats? Now that's weird."

"He would probably think the same thing about humans in some cases…like your propensity for raw snails." Harry said smiling. "Now that we've been over the target area for the past ten minutes? What are you seeing on the scales?"

Terry bounced his head between his own laptop and two other monitors strapped to the support posts running through the cloth and metal rider seats…"Gas detection zero, Oxygen level nominal, ash level detection zero…green and clear across the board Harry."

Harry was studying his I-Pad and the e-mail that Astro had flashed to him regarding the Saigo Tunnel survey data.

"Harry? Terry asked when Harry was being too quiet. "Harry? What gives?"

Harry turned and showed Terry the figures on his I-PAD.

"Oh…..kay…..things are going to get interesting at dinner tonight I guess?" Terry said with a whistle.

**Shibushi's Sushi House,** **Gonsomeru**

**7pm June 18, 2013**

The face on the robot boy could have been hilarious to Terry if it wasn't a bit disturbing to watch. His face was going from the readings on the computer tablet being shared between Nancy and Greg to Astro's almost orgasmic facial contortions as he had been chewing over the same piece of eel roll for the past seven minutes…

"You could eat a little faster?" Terry remarked as he butted Astro's side.

"I would….if this Unagi wasn't so curiously tasty." Astro replied. "I gotta ask the Itame what he put into this."

Stan Hung pointed to the computer tab. "So you're sure the tunnel deflected that much from the earthquake today?" He asked Astro.

"From the readings I had from the previous survey last year and the one's I took right before it happened? I'm pretty sure I'm within an inch or two error." Astro said as he took another piece of Unagi Maki and popped it in his mouth. "I can't figure out what other ingredients he puts in this! This tastes so strange in a sweet way."

Terry smirked. "This is the only time I ever saw someone turning sushi into a sexual experience."

"Terry?" Harry said with a shaking head. "I'm sure given our friend here that what he's doing is a quite a normal reaction."

Reno chirped out. "No it isn't. Astro's weirding out like he always does."

Greg Heslov waved a piece of sushi in his chop sticks. "I'm sort of surprised I mean food offers you no value what so ever right? So why should a robot even bother with it?"

Astro swallowed the well chewed sushi and reached for a cup of oil. "It's not really true that I can't get any value out of food. You do know that everything you eat is radioactive right? Spinach for instance has radioactive iodine and my power source absorbs radiation from anywhere and converts it to energy. I do human things because they come in handy and because I'm curiously addicted to humans. One time I even posed as a drug addicted 7th grader to bust a pusher gang out of Osaka, that took some serious creativity to hide my robotics. For me the whole experience was….a serious rush."

"I'm sure that if we were not currently engage in the more immediate circumstances of Mount Fuji's state of indigestion, we would have plenty of time to pick on Astro's Pinocchio lust." Harry said as he tapped on the table. "We need to stay focused on the problem at hand?"

Greg Heslov pointed at Astro. "Tomorrow morning? You, Nancy and I are going to be sampling the lower Northeast flank for its material make-up. You actually bored through the big cone three years ago?"

Astro looked at Reno and slightly smiled. "Not….under official orders. I got in big trouble for that stunt. Actually?...I was dared and who can turn down a quadruple, triple, ubber dog dare? I just didn't count on an NHK camera crew catching me blasting out of the main crater. Kicked up so much snow and ash that it clogged the 911 system."

Reno smirked. "That's the problem with giving Astro free will….he free wills way too much. Before anyone asks? I'm the poor guy that gets stuck fixing him after his….youthful indiscressions? Clogged engines, dirt in his ears, flooded mother boards….Ketchup where you think Ketchup couldn't possibly get too? He's a pain in my ass."

"I keep you well employed." Astro replied smiling.

Greg waved a finger. "But you gathered a lot of information from that stunt about the main cone's physical make up. Up to that point? No body knew just how unstable the mountain really was did they?"

Astro leaned back in his chair. "Unlike Mount St. Helens or Vesuvius…even old Krakatoa, Mount Fuji's cone isn't rock. Not in the sense that you'd know rock or volcanic rock. When you climb Fuji, you're climbing on a big sand pile with little or no stability. Fuji has the worst lahars of any volcano in Japan, especially during typhoons, she bleeds and runs like a hot candle, there's nothing holding the main cone in place save its own volume, if it wasn't so conically perfect it would just collapse."

Nancy scratched her head. "Which is why the lower sections of the flanks are so important."

Astro nodded back. "It depends on the ratio between the depth of previous ash and soil deposits and the surface condition of rock and crust below. The deeper the deposit and the more irregular formed the rock, the better chance the main cone will survive an eruption…simple physics."

"Well I know enough when to go to bed and I'm going." Nancy said as she stood up. "We'll meet at the CP in the morning?" She asked Astro and Reno.

"If me and Reno could go out to the site ahead of time and start earlier it would be a better advantage wouldn't it?" Astro asked.

"You're right. You can fly out there yourself. Better idea." Nancy said as she bad everyone goodbye for the evening.

Reno stood up and stretched. "She's got the right idea Astro. We should go to bed early so you can send your daily data dump to the Ministry?"

Astro nodded back. "Yeah…that and call Zoran so she won't sit up tonight in a panic." He stood up from his chair and bowed to the rest of the crew. "See you all in the morning?"

Terry smirked back. "Or if the alarms go off."

**Youth Hostel,** **Gonsomeru**

**9pm June 18, 2013**

Reno unlocked the door to the room and froze in place the moment he stepped through the doorway…

Inside on the Western style bed, a red skinned robot with yellow hair dressed in blue jeans, a plaid blue short and block moon boots sat brooding on the edge.

"I thought you said you didn't tell him?" Reno asked Astro as he turned his head to the side.

"Just because I didn't tell him doesn't mean he can't find out." Astro replied as he smirked. "At least he's not causing trouble."

Reno and Atlas scowled at each other. Atlas didn't like Reno because he was human, Reno didn't like Atlas because he was….well….Atlas. The teenage genius "tolerated" the troublesome robot for Astro's sake, on some occasions reluctantly did repairs on Atlas because of Astro's pleading…which Reno always thought as nice but seriously misplaced.

After a moment that looked like a Mexican standoff, Reno pursed his lips…"I'm going out to get a soda."

"Yeah…why don't you?" Atlas snorted.

Astro moved between the two until Reno left. Atlas slipped off the bed and walked up to Astro with his arms crossed…

"So….when were you going to tell me about your little excursion?" Atlas huffed.

"Since when did I need your permission?" Astro replied.

"Well it's obvious you might need a little help." Atlas said as he walked around Astro. "At least to make sure you're not "overly" used by these…." Atlas paused for a moment, Astro knew he wanted to sling a few racial epithets out. "These…humans."

"The reason why is kinda obvious." Astro said frowning. "Your inability to control your big fat mouth."

Atlas threw his hands out. "I'm not the one who decided to build like a maniac against a mega-volcano! You know very well what the humans are dealing with! And who do you think is going to be first in line to the sacrificial alter? Our kind! Hundreds of robots to be sacrificed all because these flesh-bag idiots can't process that putting a botanical rock garden on the slopes of a volcano isn't exactly good for your bottom line property value…what a bunch of dumb asses!"

"Atlas?" Astro asked softly.

"WHAT?!" Atlas snapped furiously.

"Is it "robots" you're worried about or "a robot"?" Astro asked. After a minute, Atlas slackened.

"You." Atlas replied. "I couldn't sit around knowing my rival is doing the same stupid stuff he always does for these selfish dirt bag humans."

Astro walked over as Atlas flopped on the side of the bed and wrapped an arm over his shoulder. "I think you came out here because when I'm not in Metro City, you can't be a jerk without me being there to save your sorry butt."

Atlas looked sideways and snorted. "What-ever you say…"

Astro tapped Atlas on the shoulder with a fist. "If you can avoid causing a stick throwing riot with that mouth of yours, do you think you could give your rival a hand around here?"

Atlas snorted back. "Helping you would be beneath me as a true robot."

Astro patted him on the back. "Admirable self denial. Reno and I are going to do some soil sampling in the morning? You're welcome to join us?"

Atlas showed a good front of toughness as he slipped off the bed, grabbed a blanket off a rack near the bathroom and found a spot on the floor to lay down.

A half hour later, Reno finally came back into the room and smirked as he pointed. "Wow! He's actually quiet and behaved!" He said, which got him a flip of the middle finger and a rude cursing in reply from the supine red boy bot.

"What's that, your IQ?" Reno snorted.

"Fuck you fat sack." Atlas snapped back.

Astro slapped Reno in the back. "Will you please not get him going?" He asked.

"You didn't ask him to join us did you?" Reno begged. "Astro?"

"We can use all the help we can get." Astro replied as he sat Reno on the bed. "There's something I might as well tell you that….well if I don't, Atlas will spill it."

Astro sighed. "We robots are kinda holding something back that humans in Japan really don't want to know just yet…Mount Fuji's….kinda more dangerous than Doctor Dalton or Professor Aramaki are aware of."

Reno's eyes bugged. "You what?!"

Atlas rolled over. "Are you deaf? Duh! I told you humans have a short attention span."

"How about I attend to your mouth!" Reno snapped.

"Will you two cut it out!" Astro yelled. "huff"…."We robots in Japan have known for a while that Mount Fuji is actually a super volcano. The Fuji plain is a volcanic caldera."

Reno stood pursing his lips. "What….what exactly does this mean?"

Atlas got to his feet and crossed his arms. "It means that an eruption could be globally catastrophic…good bye Honshu….good bye Pacific Rim….hello volcanic winter..it's gonna suck being human."

Reno sat on the bed as Astro wrung his hands. "Our purpose now is to try and figure out just how bad an eruption could be. Robots all over Japan are coordinating how to respond, what we can possibly do to mitigate the potential for an eruption that hasn't happened since the birth of the Japanese islands themselves."

"Which is why I was a little pissed off at being blown off." Atlas snapped. "It's not only humans that are at risk. But I seem to have piss poor luck of convincing "him" not to stretch his neck out."

Reno sighed. "So….let's say…let's say….this is it? Not just Mount Fuji but the whole plain, what might happen then?"

Astro sat on the floor. "It starts with a single eruption…maybe on the flanks, maybe farther out. As the magma chamber begins to unload what it has we get another eruption, then another, then the whole plain just collapses in on itself. 350 square miles of sudden magma liquefied ground. All five of the lakes around Fuji, all that water, falls into the void….KA-friggen-BLAM!"

Reno bit his lip…"Ka-friggen-blam?"

Atlas threw his hands up. "Ka-friggen" super nova! The largest non-nuclear explosion on the planet. Yellowstone?…a fire cracker compared to what that would be."

Astro drooped his head. "The eruption would pour out so much volcanic material and gas that within a month…millions around the world would start to starve and suffer from thirst. Within six months? Millions of people, animals, plants…"

Reno dug his lips into his clenched hands…"Dear God."

"We're going to need that." Atlas said pointing. "Everything helps."

"But what can we do?" Reno asked as he jumped up and started pacing. "How can you possibly reduce…, you said yourself it's impossible Astro!"

"Well…."Astro replied. "I….guess we robots share one lousy trait of humans…we're stupidly stubborn…I hate the word "impossible".

"And I'm a human hating prick." Atlas snapped. "Oh if we can pull this off? How satisfying it will be to rub it deep into the face of all you fat bags! Then you'll have no excuses left to treat us robots like throw a way toys. And no excuses left to keep us from holding political offices."

Astro gave Atlas a snort. "You're not going to be elected Emperor."

"You hope not." Atlas snapped back.

"Can you two stop the lame back and fourths and…..and kinda…I mean….don't you guys see how serious this is?!" Reno pleaded.

Astro took him by the shoulders…"Take a few deep breaths and calm down Reno. Trust me, we know how serious this is."

"And no…we can't tell anyone." Atlas said to Reno. "And don't you go blabbing. All we need is for humans to go crazy world wide, just dealing with the local "moronity" is enough."

Astro gave Atlas a sideways smirk. "You could be just a tiny bit understanding?"

"Look!" Reno said as he threw his hands up and backed away. "Just tell me that you guys and how many other robots are in on this agree on something together?"

"If you mean that we won't allow humans to go extinct?" Atlas said with a sigh…"As much as the idea might be entertaining….nah…we'll do everything we can to make sure that doesn't happen."

Astro pointed to the bed. "Look Reno…you try and get some sleep, me and Atlas are going to go for…."a little walk." " Astro turned and growled at Atlas before snatching him by the arm and pulling him out of the room behind him. When they came back an hour later, Atlas looked like a scolded puppy as he shuffled through the door, took his blanket and flopped back on the floor in a corner as Astro slipped into the Western bed with Reno…

"What did you do?" Reno asked.

"Gave him a lesson in manners, don't worry about it." Astro said back with a snort. All of them were soon asleep.

**June 19, 2013**

**7am…13 Miles West of Gonsomeru**

"35,000 feet cruising" the reading replayed over and over every few seconds through the information loop. If "she" had a little more freedom, "she'd" kill the offending reminder that interrupted "her" thoughts.

"Her" name was Becky, well that was her call sign any way and she found herself flying over Japan by means of devious subterfuge, expertive hacking, illegal re-writing of official computer documents….

And that cute, conniving voice.

The Predator drone threw up a firewall to block it's "Parents", a pair of C.I.A contracted Air Force officers out of Warren Air Force Base, from hearing the conversation…

"Hi Astro." A sweet feminine voice hummed in Astro's head as he stood watching Reno and Nancy working over a pair of electronic instruments. Astro didn't have to mouth anything of course but his face appeared to have a charming, very warm and affectionate appearance as he turned his back.

"Hi Becky." Astro replied. "It's been a while...I hope there wasn't any difficulty getting here?"

"Not if you count an Air Force general pounding his fist on my cowling…he dented it the creep!" Becky snorted.

"Want me to come up and kiss your boo boo?" Astro said lovingly.

Suddenly Atlas walked up and butted Astro in the side. "Do you mind? They can see you behaving like a drunken dumb dork! Ugh…stop acting vulgar?"

"Cut it out?!" Astro snapped back. "Becks? You know what we need right? We sent you the package last night?"

"Downloaded and processed." The Predator said back. "I have four hours overhead time unless some-one back home wises up. You…..will fill that promise won't you?"

"For a sweet flower of technology like you? I wouldn't miss that for anything." Astro said sweetly before switching Becky off. The whole exchange left Atlas grumbling…

"Prostitute." He snorted quietly.

"I promised I would fly with her." Astro replied softly smiling. "If you could fly with such a hot thing as a Predator drone, you'd do it too."

Atlas growled. "You're still a prostitute. I'll never lower myself to such indignity."

Astro gave Atlas a devious smirk as he walked over to Reno and Nancy. "You guys all set?"

Nancy took a pair of small cell like sensors and strapped them to both of Astro's ankles. "Yes. It's all calibrated. So between these instruments and your own sensors, we should get a good idea of the layer make-up between soils and rock. How many….shots?...do we need?" She asked.

Reno turned from looking at Astro's computer pad. "About 25 total in a 25 square mile grid. That's what I worked out through the plotting program."

Nancy looked at Astro as he started a set of hilarious warm up exercises. "Being a little showy don't you think?"

"Gotta get the hydraulics warmed up." Astro replied. "By the way, you guys need to keep a good distance when I come down and hit the ground? If it's soft, I tend to cause kind of a dirty tidal wave. If it's hard…well…I don't want you getting killed by flying robot parts."

Astro finished jumping around and walked back to where Atlas was standing. "Obviously you haven't given her all the details?" Atlas asked silently with his radio.

"No." Astro replied. "The magma cap data's going to Becky, then she'll send it to the super computers at Tokyo University and Berkley."

Atlas walked over to Nancy and Reno as Astro blasted himself into the air. "He's probably going to break the sound barrier coming down so if you fragile protozoa primates don't have ear protection? Sucks to be you."

Nancy gave Atlas an irritated look.

"Don't let him bother you." Reno said as he scoffed. "He's always insecure about his orientation. You're a girl Atlas, accept it."

Atlas gave Reno a middle finger. "Here he comes!" He yelped as he pointed up to the onrushing blur streaking towards the ground!

It was a wild double wham when it hit. Even at 50 yards from impact, Nancy, Reno and Atlas got thrown from their feet from the shock wave as Astro broke the sound barrier and a half second later when he crashed into the ground and left a 50 foot tower of flying dirt in his wake!

Had it not been for Reno staking and roping the equipment down, it all would have gone airborne! Nancy scrambled to her feet and caught her lap top in mid dive, rolling on her back and sliding on the grass…"Son of a bitch!" She screamed out. Five seconds later, Astro broke through the ground a yard away and stood spitting mud from his mouth…

"Pffft!"..."P!"..."P!"..."Bleck!"…."And I'm going to do this how many more times?" Astro said as he bumped his hand against his head to throw dirt from his ears.

"As many times as I like." Becky's voice said seductively in Astro's head.

"Not now Becks? I'm working." Astro thought as he smiled.

Nancy stood balancing her lap top in one hand while she typed. "Good results on that try. Do you think you could put some style on the entry like a half pike, double flip, back spin, shuffle twist?"

Atlas snorted. "Please don't encourage him."

Reno walked up to Atlas and slapped him in the chest. "Why don't you show him up? Let's see how fast you can get before you hit the ground?"

Atlas huffed. "Why should I? I can out-race, out-fly and out-fight this dufus and I don't even have to walk fast!"

Astro got in Atlas's face. "Put up or shut up Hot Stuff!" Astro snapped. Atlas knelt down and all but ripped the sensors from Astro's legs.

"You asked for it….little human hugging bitch." Atlas snorted back.

Reno looked at Nancy and shook his head. "We…better find a good rock to hide under, this is gonna get nasty."

**June 19, 2013**

**9am…10 Miles East of Gonsomeru**

**Kometake City, Minature Amusement Golf Course**

The van came to a stop at the gate and Harry, Greg Heslov and a small party of Japanese students and professionals from Tokyo University poured out carrying electronic gear, video cameras, sensors and all sorts of equipment with them as they met the harried looking, middle aged Japanese women coming out to meet them.

One of the students who spoke fluent English translated the woman's worry as she waved her arms about and spoke blindingly fast…

"She…came in to open the park."

"Smoke or steam was pouring from the holes on the greens."

"Smells of rotten eggs."

"The golf cart looked like the Titanic in the sand trap."

Greg smiled and nodded to each reply. "Fantastic. And I left my 5 iron at home."

"You should have brought your whole set." Harry said smirking. "Then we could all be spared the torture of your future feeble attempts at golf." Harry turned to one of the Japanese students. "You should tell your friends to wear their gas masks and proceed slowly as we walk since we don't know what to expect here."

Greg passed a face respirator to Harry as the group entered the miniature golf course and immediately caught the sweet but offensive odor of sulfur wafting over the grounds. Greg and one student cautiously walked over to a steam cloud drifting out of one of the holes and started collecting samples with the kits they carried in shoulder bags. Harry meanwhile was slowly progressing with a gas meter wand attached to an extension pole.

"Low level sulfuric acid contamination…some Carbon Fluorine Sulfates…water table contamination for certain." Harry reached for his phone and hit the speed dial. "Professor Aramaki? Harry Dalton…you should contact the authorities for Kometake and issue a water advisory, Obviously the water table here has been breached by the volcanic system but to what extent is not clear just yet."

Aramaki was back at his office organizing the data coming in from Astro's drilling excursion. "Is there evidence of magma intrusion? What are the temperature readings at the moment?"

Harry turned to one of the students who looked at his instrument and turned back. "The ground temperature average is 54 degrees taking into account the morning sunlight and the atmospheric clarity. Dissipation rate is within acceptable averages."

"That means it's coming up in fissures and the magma, if any, is sitting fairly deep." Harry said as he looked back at his own instrument for the gas reading. "Gas amounts remain steady."

Aramaki took a deep breath and paused to look at his computer. "I will make the calls Harry. Continue your survey and bring back what you find."

**June 19, 2013**

**9am…13 Miles West of Gonsomeru**

Nancy and Reno hugged each other tight as the double dose of concussion waves rolled over them! "Oh my God!" Nancy yelped. "They're going to kill each other! Did you have to get them arguing over each other?!" She asked.

"It got the job done faster." Reno said with a smirk. All he had to do was get Atlas pissed enough and there was nothing to stop the rivalry save a bad call of judgment.

"Foof!" "HA! I WAS FASTER THAT TIME! ADMIT IT!" Atlas snapped as he came up from the ground cussing and spitting dirt.

"Foof!" "BITE ME!" Astro snapped back. "I had a thousandth of a second on you!" He said as he climbed out of his hole and stomped towards Atlas fuming.

"Awww….too afraid to admit you're so sub-par to me?" Atlas snickered.

"No! You won't admit that you're a big fat stupid liar!" Astro yelled out.

"BITCH!" Atlas yelled back.

"STUCK UP DIRT BALL!" Astro snapped back as he pushed Atlas back.

"I'm gonna overhaul your stupid face." Atlas snarled as he clenched his fist.

"Bring it loser!" Astro growled as he clenched his.

Reno jumped between the antagonized bots just in time to grab their cocked arms. "Hey!... hey we're done ok? We got all the information we need…..calm down….Astro? Atlas did shave you out."

Astro looked at Reno and sighed. "Sheesh…that almost got stupid."

"That's what happens when we let some smart ass "fat-bag" take advantage of us." Atlas said snorting. "You actually wanted us to kick each-others ass….didn't you?!"

"No!" Reno replied. "Well…maybe? You guys do fight like a pair of drunk clowns on Sunday, just saying."

Astro looked at Atlas and smirked. "I haven't shown you what a wedgie can do to a human have I?"

"No." Atlas replied. Both boy bots looked evilly at Reno as he backed up.

"Guys? Uh…you can't hurt humans remember? The law of robotics?"

Astro pursed his lips and shook his head. "Last time I checked? Wedgies weren't covered under the robotic laws as being harmful to humans…come here Reno and accept your punishment like an honorable human should."

"He's running!" Atlas said as he started to bolt after Reno only to get stopped by Astro's arm.

"Don't be so hasty? Let the fear soak in a little, it's much more fun that way."

End of Chapter 1


	2. Chapter 2

_**FIREY AND FURIOUS**_

An Astro boy, Dante's Peak cross over

By Dan

Chapter 2

**11am June 19, 2013**

**Volcanic Monitoring "CP"**

**Gonsomeru**

Astro felt miserable, of course this "feeling" was the result of numerical data crunching, averages and calculations that ended in an appropriate response his complex construction would display…

The technical jargon of course…despite that, Astro truly did think he felt the way he did. He and Reno were super close, as super ubber close a relationship as two brothers and not once had he ever tried, ever thought, ever wanted to keep anything that Reno should and had the right to know.

As he walked or rather stumbled along behind Atlas, who was pulling him reluctantly away from Reno's ear shot, Astro gave out an annoyingly loud sigh…

"You're not telling him anything so cut it out." Atlas snorted as he stopped and looked around.

"But I've never held anything back from him. You have to understand Atlas, if there's any human I trust and know it's Reno, I just think…" Astro jumped back a little as Atlas hard stared him down.

"It's better for now that you DON'T say a thing! Our purpose in life is to protect our creators and giving them anything that could cause them to injure themselves out of uncontrolled emotional outburst violates our programming. What good will Mister Wizbang be if he becomes a babbling, crying mess who gets himself killed?"

Atlas slackened a bit. "It's only for their own good, one slip of the snoot and he could touch off a world-wide panic pandemic. "Sigh"…you really are infected bad by their bad habits."

"Is this all you want to do? Bash on me!?" Astro snapped with a frown.

"No." Atlas replied. "I was just saying…just save it ok? So what did those brainiac mega-computers say?"

Astro put his hands out like a graduation scale…."Do you want the long technical reply or the quick and simple?"

"The simple one?" Atlas replied.

"The roof of the magma chamber is suffering significant fracturing, that and the fact that the shallow soil depth doesn't help at all. Chance for significant failure from an eruption point? 82 odd into all screwed up percent."

Atlas pursed his lips. "Nice way to put it."

Suddenly a shrilling screech raced through Astro's head, causing the boy bot to jump around! "Ayech!...Ayech!...damn cell phones!"

"Haven't learned what squelch is yet?" Atlas said amused."

"Shut up!" Astro angrily snapped. "Ah!...Astro here…now that my head's back on my neck."

Harry Dalton's voice came back with earnest…"Astro! We have a serious situation in Kometake! The golf course…Come quick!"

Atlas smirked. "Don't they know they have to call our union first?"

"Stay here then." Astro replied as he lit his leg jets and streaked into the air.

"Some one has to cover your butt." Atlas replied snorting as he followed.

**June 19, 2013**

**11:37am…10 Miles East of Gonsomeru**

**Kometake City, Minature Amusement Golf Course**

"Just…..just stay where you're at!" Greg Heslov screamed out to the pair of students hugging onto a single tree. Around them it looked as if the grass had vanished, replaced by dark brown soil and clouds of steam. It didn't take Atlas long once he and Astro flew over the top of the scene to know what was going on…

"See that sand trap?" He said as he pointed down. "It's like 970 degrees and rising fast!"

Astro switched his eyes to read thermal images. "The sand trap? Try the whole ground for like twenty square yards!"

Atlas didn't waste another second as he dropped out of the air and plucked the students up from the tree, flying them by Astro with a smile…

"Hah! Upstaged you!" He snickered.

"Duh! As if I care? At least you did something constructive!" Astro snorted as he landed where Greg and Harry were standing and started pushing them backwards. "If it didn't occur to you guys? It's getting a little hot around here."

"Shit! We're right at ground zero….this is like game up!" Greg said as he looked to start running. Just then, Atlas landed with a golf club swung over his shoulder with a steaming clump of lava hanging off the strike plate.

"Easy fleshy…" Atlas said as he looked back at the clump. "Well…better make it half easy."

Greg gestured…"Who's this? You think this is funny?"

"Don't let him get to you…his bed side manor sucks." Astro said as he took the cub from Atlas. "The sand pit?" He asked.

"Yeah." Atlas replied. "It's like taffy."

Harry took the club and examined it. "If it were more "runny" there would be less to worry about. This is a nasty sign of serious constipation."

Astro gave Harry a crocked look. "That's making it simplistic…want to give it some Pepto?"

"See the problem is the less viscuss the lava, the more gas is trapped in its structure. What we have here is high gas to magma concentration which makes an explosive detonation far more likely and the time of advanced warning shorter." Harry said as he pointed. "We need to close this whole park down…apparently for now some luck is on our side, the magma is coming through a fissure at a point where the rock base is apparently somewhat stable. That doesn't say much for any other location."

Atlas butted Astro in the side. "We need to tell him."

"I "thought" you said not to tell anyone?" Astro replied.

"Well…I kinda like him." Atlas said smiling. "He's a Doctor, at least it's a plus on the fleshy meter."

**June 19, 2013**

**11:37am…10 Miles East of Gonsomeru**

**Kometake City, An abandoned warehouse.**

"So….when were you going to finally tell the rest of humanity about your collective analysis?" Harry asked Atlas as the red boy bot sat brooding on an over turned barrel. He then looked at Astro. "I thought it was against a robots program to lie or width hold information?"

"It is when our programming finds that width holding it is actually more dangerous. Atlas was right that we had to be sure we had every bit of data and that it was correct. We also had to be selective in who got it because if the wrong person should say something at the wrong time…"

"The result would be all out global hell." Atlas chimed in. "I'm going off ambient facts and they tell me you can be trusted for the moment not to go off screaming that the sky's about to fall and fall rather hard…unless by some luck we find a solution."

Harry scoffed. "A solution? Perhaps we could just ask Fuji nicely not to erupt…say….give it a big bowl of fruit topped with a virgin?"

Atlas smirked. "Is he being funny?"

Astro replied. "Nah….I think he's a little pissed at us."

" "Pissed"….is not the word. What gives you robots the right to hold back the knowledge that the whole human race is sitting atop what amounts to a doomsday bomb?"

"The knowledge that our creator, no matter how imperfect his fat-sack ass may be, is in danger of becoming extinct." Atlas snorted. "Look Doctor, Though I don't hide my distaste, my anger, my complete distrust and my desire to see every one of you stupid humans leashed, shackled and electronically tagged so you can't go about trashing this planet, dropping atomic bombs, spilling oil and basically being a bunch of parasitic fleas that Mother Earth should shake off like a bad habit…."

Astro chirped. "Long list huh?"

"Shut up pussy foot, I'm on a roll." Atlas snapped back with a pointed finger. "I realize that… without your kind here? Life as we robots know it would basically suck. And nothing will suck worse than being stuck on an obliterated planet having to sit by and watch as every dog, Horse, Elephant, cat, Whale and you troublesome two legged carbon based, for the life of me I can't figure out why I should care about you…life forms slowly die before our eyes…lucky for you, we can-not allow that to happen."

"Eloquent speech…more fitting a tantrum throwing toddler." Harry said smirking.

"He really did pass 3rd grade." Astro snickered. "Actually failed P.E., not his strong suit at all..."

Harry walked up to Atlas with a doubtful look. "So….I take it "you're" going to prevent the coming disaster? Mind explaining how?"

Atlas looked at Astro. "I was kind of hoping the human's favorite puppy dog could answer that better than me."

Astro stood pursing his lips. "We're not sure…..yet. We're all working on it! Every robot and super computer around the world are crunching data, looking for solutions…looking to a plan B if nothing can be done…we….really don't have much time."

Harry scowled. "Just how much "time" do we have?"

Astro played with his fingers. "Uh…accounting for errors…ummm….four days."

"That little?" Harry asked.

"He could have said four hours if that's what you wanted?" Atlas replied scowling. "We might have less or more depending on mother Earth's attitude. At any rate we want 24 hours to try and find a solution before you go public. That gives at least 3 days preparation time."

Astro closed his eyes and sighed. "We could, if worse comes to it, try to force open Fuji's central vent and initiate a Plinian eruption. Venting the pressure through the cone would reduce the catastrophic effect of an all-out explosion but it won't stop the inevitable when the magma chamber finally empties and falls apart. At best it would by the world some more time, perhaps save more people…it's a fool's risk at best."

Harry nodded and brooded. "24 hours…you'll have that, no more. After that I have to go public and we will have to deal with what results."

Astro and Atlas nodded back. "We'll do what we can." Astro said confidently. He caught Atlas as he started to walk away and held him till Harry was beyond ear shot. "We need a pair of extra hands." He whispered.

"Who?" Atlas replied as he put his hands on his hips. "Obviously you already asked?"

"Uh….Mars?" Astro replied with a slight shrug. The name sent Atlas into a fit!

"NO!...You bring him here and I'm gone! Do you hear me! Why the hell did you even think of calling him?! Of all the stupid!...ugh!..."

"Calm down!" Astro begged.

"Calm down?" Atlas snapped back. "You want that undisciplined, uncontrollable, childish juvenile?!….he behaves worse than your sister!"

"And you have no right to complain that he's juvenile Atlas! Why don't you just drop to the floor, roll around and kick yourself silly, it would complete the gift pack!" Astro said as he threw his arms out. "We need that extra bit of strength…I can handle Mars, trust me?"

Atlas snorted. "I'd rather throw myself into the volcano, it would hurt less."

"Between you two? I'll probably be the first to do the swan dive into the magma chamber." Astro said as he turned and walked for Doctor Dalton's van. "But we're stuck with each other so let's do what we can to make it work?"

"Can I cut his vocal cords?" Atlas asked snickering.

"No." Astro replied smiling. "I need the amusement."

**June 19, 2013**

**1:37pm…climbing station 7**

**Northeast flank of Fuji**

Stan adjusted the bore-sight atop the tripod mounted laser and watched as Terry adjusted the calibration on an attached note book. " Point 239…see? Told you nothing's better than an old abacus."

Terry scoffed. "I'm surprised some people still use those things…like bringing a flint lock to a bank robbery. So what do you think of Hime?"

"That one girl from Tokyo U?" Stan replied. "If I were her I'd run your criminal history then she can find out how many girlfriends you've messed up on in the past five years."

"Funny Stan…at least try to make me laugh?" Terry said as he typed into his computer. "Ok…I have the initial shot entered…WYFI test sat…station set. I think she's interested in me, don't you think?"

Stan smirked. "You are an Adonis among all men…then again….Peter Ustinov in Sparticus faired only slightly to your modest waist line."

Terry scoffed as he pulled out a radio from his back pack. "Should I call the chopper and we'll go to the next point?"

"Yeah…I think we're done here. Didn't Harry say they had something at that golf course they were called to look at?" Stan asked.

"He didn't tell us…let me call him first."

As Terry pulled his cell phone from his pocket, Stan suddenly stood up…"Terry?...Do you feel that?" Stand asked as he looked around.

"What?" Terry asked.

"You don't feel that?" Stan asked earnestly. "I feel it…"

Suddenly the whole mountain shook enough to get Terry's attention. "I feel this!"

Both men were thrown from their feet as the ground below them seemed to "jump" and toss them about like a trampoline! "Shit! It feels…..like….7.0!"

Terry looked at Stan and wondered why his companion appeared to be moving away from him…till he found that the entire ground around him was shimmering and sifting like flour in a bakery shaker. "God damn! The whole flanks on the move!"

It wasn't a matter of escaping as much as it was praying…which Stan was doing frantically as he dug a cross from under his shirt…."Please….please stop…please stop….please stop…."

Just as quickly as the slide began…it ceased. Stan looked up, looked at his cross, kissed it and shook it in the air. "Thank you…thank you God!"

He looked over to Terry and found him laying on his back clutching his chest. "Terry?! Terry!" Stan scrambled to Terry's side and grabbed his hand. "Terry…not now man, not now…talk to me…"

Terry open his eyes. "My chest really hurts…"

Stan grabbed the radio from Terry's bad and clicked the button. "Station 7 here, I need the chopper now! Expedite! Medical emergency expedite!"

Stan looked at Terry's face and saw he had passed out. "No…no..no..no…Terry? Terry stay with me! Open your damn eyes Terry!"

Stan was shaking Terry by his shoulders when someone suddenly spoke behind him…"Uh? Need help?"

Stan turned around to see a small boy standing behind him dressed in thick blue boots, a pair of blue..underpants?, a red scarf with long trails flying from his neck and weird spikes protruding from his black…..hair?

"He's….having a heart attack….I think." Stan replied as the small boy all but pushed him aside and sat on Terry's stomach.

"You'd think humans would have figured out by now how to replace a heart? Not that being so big isn't something this guy should have noticed by now." The boy said as he reached down and ripped open Terry's jacket and shirt. "Nope…."snot" a heart attack."

Stan snorted. "Damn it! Get off of him!" He reached for the boy's arm and got grabbed by a vice grip hand..

"He's not having a heart attack…chill." The boy replied smiling. He rubbed his hands together rapidly…."Hocus Pokus!...or something like that?"

Putting his hands on Terry's chest, the youngster hummed to himself some sort of song tune, stopping to look at a pretend watch, and kept his hands on Terry's chest till the man woke up.

"Ugh….." Terry slowly came back and looked down his chest to see a small boy sitting on his stomach. "What the hell?" He asked still groggy.

"You had a nice shade of blue going mister." The boy said with a cocky grin. "Take my advice and cut off the pizza and beer. I don't think the ambulance people could even carry you."

"What the hell?!" Stan yelped. "Who are you kid? Terry could have been in real danger and you're sitting here like a little jerk cracking jokes."

The boy stood up. "Calm down Mister…sheeh you humans really need to lighten up. And by the way, my name's Mars…I'm looking for another robot who kinda looks like me? Actually he's a cheep knock off. And another who's like red colored, yellow haired with a big mouth?"

Stan helped Terry to his feet. "You might try our base camp. And you might need a little lesson in manors."

"I'm doing just fine thanks." Mars replied. "And tell pork belly here to lay off the Girl Scout cookies too."

Terry snarled and Mars wisely chose to take off and leave both men cussing him out.

**2pm June 19, 2013**

**Volcanic Monitoring "CP"**

**Gonsomeru**

Nancy and Reno came running out from the office connex just as Harry, Astro and Atlas pulled up in their van. "Harry?! There's been an earthquake…"

"Yes I know. Do we have an approximate location yet? What about Terry and Stan?" Harry replied as he took some papers from Nancy.

"35 miles below the Northeast flank, part of it slid Harry, the whole flank slid about 25 yards!" Nancy said as she turned to Reno.

"About 25 feet of the top soil slid, that's the estimate. The figures work out to 945 cubic miles of earth on the move." Reno said pursing his lips. "It's a compacted layer atop a water saturated layer, the same thing they worry about in the Cannery Islands with Nevado Del Louis."

"Ffffffuck." The unexpected speaker suddenly got all the eyes fixed on his face. Astro looked back at everyone and shrugged with a smirk. "Just an estimation of the level of intensity the situation brings?"

"That was unbecoming of you." Atlas snorted. "Told you you've been hanging around these fleshies too long."

Professor Aramaki came walking up with two students behind him. "Harry, you heard?"

"Yes. The "slide" is a new problem we have to address. We can't hold that portion back… it's time to consider the media." Harry said. "We need a go between we can trust and work with to manage the information, make sure we don't cause a blind panic."

"Steve Martin?" One of Professor Aramaki's students said aloud. "From United World News?"

Aramaki nodded. "Yes…I've dealt with him, no non-sense, honest, strait and blunt and he's careful, easy to work with. He can be here in the hour but I'll call him and let him know what we need. As long as he gets first on every report."

"Hey Astro?" Reno said as he raised a finger. "I got a call from Stan Hung? He's ticked off about some short big mouthed robot insulting him and Terry?"

Astro's eyes rolled up and a half smirk rose on his mouth. "Here we go."

As if on cue, Mars softly landed next to Astro and tapped him on the shoulder. "Hi "Knock Off"!"

"It's Astro, Mars? Astro." Astro said pointing to himself.

"Yeah, yeah what ever…that's what the lawyers keep saying." Mars waved a hand. "You're still a low grade cheep knock off in my book." Mars turned to Atlas, put his hands out and started messing with the red boy bot's soft yellow hair! "Can't you do something with this mop of yours? Put it in a pony tail!"

"AH!" Atlas yelped as he batted Mars off of him. "Get away from me you stupid childish misfit!"

"Wow…" Mars replied as he held a slapped hand and snorted. "See if I give you anything nice on your birthday! Gee Knock Off, who spilled salt water on his circuits?" Mars snorted as he followed Astro.

"Could you please….stop calling me "knock off" Mars, just once?" Astro begged. "I don't go around insulting you do I?"

"It's not my fault Doctor Tenma was a design stealing rat." Mars sniped. "He could have at least improved a few things you know. And as for the other one? Sheesh Atlas you got jipped."

Atlas was fuming…"Just let me pound the little…"

"Atlas he's just trying to aggravate us." Astro said as he gave Mars a serious warning face. "And if he doesn't stop and understand how serious things are right now? He might find himself going home sans his butt!"

"You don't have to make threats." Mars snorted. "I already know how bad things are which is why…Aaaastro, made the right move to call me."

"Self promoting selfish little bitch." Atlas snorted.

"Atlas?!" Astro snapped softly. "Can we all stop the Daytona 500 mouthing off?"

"So….what's the deal?" Mars asked as he crossed his arms. "What do you want me to do?"

Atlas just snatched Mars up like a sack of potatoes. "You can make sure all the vehicles in the compound are ready to go if the humans have to run…typical they don't take the time to do it themselves!"

"WHAT?!" Mars snapped. "I'm not a grease monkey! Astro! Tell him that's not my job! I wanna do something important! Hey?! Knock Off!"

"Huh?" Astro snickered back with a craned ear. "You asked to help out Mars! We don't have anything right now so you'll just have to stay busy!"

"YOU SUCK!" Mars screamed back.

"Yeah…I just suck with more class than you." Astro said as he wipped hands together and walked off.

**3pm June 19, 2013**

**Volcanic Monitoring "CP"**

**Gonsomeru**

It didn't take long for Steve Martin to make the trip from Tokyo, the 6 foot tall, broad framed man entered the connex where Professor Aramaki, Harry, Stan and Terry were brooding over a table and a topography map where the shape of the slid section of mountain flank was drawn out in blue.

Martin pulled out a nicely carved Mirsham smoking pipe and gestured to it before lighting it.

"Welcome Mister Martin, Harry Dalton U.S. Geological Survey." Harry stepped up to shake Martin's hand.

"Call me Steve, please." Martin replied as he gestured to the map. "So what's the story? News is that Mount Fuji is waking up."

"The news is correct." The professor replied. "The extent is a matter of concern at the moment. We need a representative to co-ordinate media relations."

Martin leaned against the table. "In short you need a manager who looks good and throw a good pitch? What do you have for release now?"

The professor turned to Harry. "We will need at least one hour to inform the authorities and start the process of local evacuations."

"The situation at the moment Steve is on the Northeast flank of Fuji. The earthquake that happened dislodged a considerable size slab of earth and it started to slide, we're talking almost 930 square miles of earth."

Martin pursed his lips. "Is there a threat of the slide continuing?"

"With further seismic activity and the make up of the layers of sediment…almost certain." Harry said as he looked down at the map. "If there was more vegetation on the flanks, that would delay the speed of any eventual slide activity but being so barren down to the 500 foot tree line, once that slab really goes, it won't stop."

Martin nodded. "Alright. Give me a place to set up a briefing room and we'll go to work. We'll start with an initial brief of the slide problem, expected activity, try to restrain the usual dramatics you get from some of these morons I work with so we don't cause a massive panic. I'll be ready to host the first news conference in 90 minutes so send any reporters who show up to me first."

**3:50pm June 19, 2013**

**Athletics Park**

**Gonsomeru**

Mars grumbled to himself as he rubbed over his face and shuffled after Astro and Atlas. "I won't get this grease out of my skin for weeks, you guys made me work on those cars for spite."

"We "Made" you work on them because you always like to tinker with stuff." Atlas replied. "It just kept you from tinkering in the wrong place."

"So why are we here?" Mars demanded. "There's other stuff right?"

"We have to meet some others we'll need when things get crazy." Astro replied. "Atlas? You have to trust me ok?"

Atlas pursed his lips. "You're plotting more crazy stuff aren't you?"

Just then, a large multi-colored, armor plate adorned robot came out from behind a bathroom hut with a smaller female robot behind him…

Atlas froze…not so much for the imposing monster looking down on him but rather the girl bot who walked up and gently kissed him on his lips…"And you were going to tell me no?" Epsilon asked as she rubbed Atlas's chin.

"You're lucky I have faith in Astro's word or I would arrest you right here and now." Captain Delta snarled deeply. Obviously Atlas wasn't listening…

"Hey Lobster! Get the bulge out of your pants!" Mars yelled loudly.

Atlas shuddered back to reality. "Ugh! I….I thought I told you to stay home!" He asked Epsilon. "It's too dangerous…"

Epsilon shook her head and played a finger over Atlas's still lips. "Cut it out? You know you need my help…on more than a few things?" She looked back at Delta.

"For now he's earned a reprieve but the warrants still stand. You are a terrorist and a threat to Metro City and you will be brought to justice Atlas." Delta warned with a finger.

"Not now." Astro said as he butted in. "We don't have time to start going back and forth over acts that hardly meet a day in "juvie". Delta is in charge of all the Military and police robots in Japan, Epsilon is handling the civilian matters like transportation, hospitals and safety. We have to put aside all of our complaining for the sake of our prime programming."

"What am I in charge of?" Mars asked.

"Toilets if you don't behave." Astro snorted back. "Atlas? I was worried of giving you some authority given your big head at times…"

"He's focusing on her boobs again." Mars said smirking.

"SMACK!" "Owww!...Delta! He assaulted me!" Mars cried as he pointed to Atlas.

"I didn't see anything." Delta replied crossing his arms.

"Like I said…" Astro snorted. "Atlas will handle the flow of communications since your CPU has more load weight capacity than mine."

Atlas shook his head. "Now wait…what exactly are you up too?"

"Exactly what you've always dreamed of." Astro replied. "Should the worst happen? "We"… being all the robots and computers around the world…are going to take over."

Atlas's eyes bugged. "You?...us?...well talk about hypocrisy."

"Don't get me wrong. I don't intend to let it stay permanent. Our primary programming makes the survival of humans an absolute must and in the case of a super volcano, that means protecting them from their own "cognitive handicaps". In short…we're laying the world wide foundation for a swift and rapid take over so quick? The humans will not have blinked fast enough to miss it."

Atlas smiled brightly…"You devious little prick. I knew deep down inside your circuits were on the right track."

Astro huffed back. "Like I said Atlas? We're going to do everything we can to make sure that option isn't the first we go too. And it won't last long if we have to."

Astro got in Atlas's face. "And DON'T try any stupid sabotage to tilt things in your favor?"

"I don't think it's even in his mind." Mars giggled. "He's looking at her boobs again!"

Atlas pursed his lips. "Please? Let me turn him into a match box car?"

Astro looked at Mars and smiled. "I don't see a thing."

It was moments later after the meeting broke that Atlas walked Epsilon away, turning every so often to make sure Mars wasn't trying to "boot lick" for a show. He pulled her behind a piece of playground equipment and softly kissed her…

"Do you have to be so stubborn?" Atlas said as he softly ran his hands over her soft body.

"You don't "own" me." Epsilon replied. "What? I should just sit at home in a kimono and hope you walk through the door?"

"That's the desired concept." Atlas replied as he nibbled on an ear. "The last thing I wanted was to see you out here. I don't think controlling the weather conditions will have any effect on a volcano."

Epsilon played a finger over Atlas's nose. "You're so Simple Simon you know that? With the North East flank being so unstable, the last thing we need is a good rain storm."

Atlas hesitated. "Well…I….I was just…."

Epsilon kissed the flustered boy bot again and ran a finger over his chest. "Now…should we get back to work or….should I get us a room?"

Atlas shook his head and took her by the hand. "Oh the heck with it! We better get back or that goody-two-boots will have fun posting gossip on Facebook."

**4:15pm June 19, 2013**

**Monitoring C.P. Media Briefing**

**Gonsomeru**

Jane Hollerhan from CNN walked up to Steven Martin as he reviewed an update Greg Heslov handed him. "So they chose you to be our contact? It's more serious than you're going to state isn't it?"

"If you're thinking volcanic eruption? That's debatable. I'm not a volcanologist if you haven't noticed." Steve replied. "But even I can say it's a 70 percent possibility and I'll be wrong."

Steve walked up to the front of the packed room where Harry Dalton and Professor Aramaki were standing.

Steve: "Good afternoon. I will dispense with my own introduction since you all know me and if I start talking I have a tendency not to shut up."

(laughter)

Steven: The man to my left is Doctor Harry Dalton from the United States Geological Survey. The man to my left is the eminent Professor Shinjo Aramaki, former Dead of Tokyo University. They have requested me to coordinate liaison with the international media concerning the current situation with Mount Fuji.

I have provided to all of you an information packet covering monitoring efforts of the mountain since 2001 so we will not lose time reviewing the current situation. Today at 1:40pm, a 6.8 magnitude earthquake occurred 7 miles below the Northeast flank of Mount Fuji, this based off the latest update that was just handed to me. This quake lasted 45 seconds.

As a result of this earthquake and the composition of the mountain's construction, 930 cubic miles of the Northeast flank, that's a large slab of compacted ash over 25 feet thick, detached from the flank and slid 25 yards. This movement is considered "threat significant" meaning further movement and possible lahar generation is highly probable.

In addition, other events that have occurred over the past two weeks confirm the high probability that the Fujiyama volcanic system is becoming active after 300 years of dormancy. I say again, the volcanic system, not the volcano itself, is showing signs of renewed activity.

Doctor Dalton and Professor Aramaki have been in close contact with Japanese authorities. A plan for precautionary scaled evacuations will be released within the hour by Japanese civil defense.

Allow me to turn this briefing over to Professor Aramaki. He will now give you the professional analysis for the benefit of the Japanese populace. Allow me to first express to those watching the urgency of calm and the absolute need to deal with this situation with reason and constructive action. Panic must be prevented, all measures at all levels are being taken to protect lives and property. With that in mind, Professor Aramaki?"

Professor Aramaki: Ladies and Gentlemen, to expand on what Mister Martin has stated, volcanic activity encompassing 96 square miles of Mount Fuji middle and lower Northeast flank has been on the increase with today's earthquake elevating the possibility for a significant volcanic event. Currently, the monitoring team has developed five hard possible outcomes, one being minor displays of volcanic release to five, a repeat of the 1707 Hoei eruption but of more powerful scale. Our team will brief the Prime Minister this evening on our recommended responses.

Today's significant event will have the more immediate and required response which is being undertaken by civil defense and the Self-Defense force. Thirteen villages and two medium municipalities under threat from the weakened Northeast flank are being prepared for evacuation. I shall speak bluntly…the failure of the Northeast flank could precipitate a further much larger failure of Fuji's conical structure. This event would trigger a catastrophic release of volcanic pressure. I need not go further on that scenario.

That stated, calm and orderly execution by the affected populace is of great priority. Listen to your emergency personnel and those in authority intently for your safety and the safety of others around you. Allow me to turn to Doctor Dalton.

Harry Dalton : Ladies and Gentlemen. Monitoring efforts on Mount Fuji are increasing. In concert with our Japanese hosts, I have requested that two USGS teams be deployed to Japan from the United States within 72 hours. Not making light of the situation, Mount Fuji will become the most monitor saturated volcano in the world, not a single rock will move where we won't have an instant alarm. Lahar detection equipment is being dropped in strategic locations for real time warning of any major collapse event. At this moment the United States Military under permission of the Japanese government is flying a pair of Predator drones over the Fuji region. As Id say….she's not going to burp without us knowing it. We are moving to prepare for all possibilities but it would not hurt for a little extra divine guidance, let us pray for the best but be ready for the worst.


	3. Chapter 3

_**FIREY AND FURIOUS**_

An Astro boy, Dante's Peak cross over

By Dan

**Chapter 3**

**7pm June 19, 2013**

**Kometake City**

A line of local police blocked the main road that ran past the Kometake Hospital as a squad of five double-rotor headed CH-46 came down to land upon it. As each unloaded their cargo of military police, a group of patients and hospital staff ran by them and quickly boarded up the aft loading ramps.

"I had better things to do than this!" A complaining blonde youth screamed at his pink haired partner as they rolled a bed past the man directing them towards one of the helicopters.

"Oh shut up Naruto! "Slap!" "All you do is play your stupid PS2 and suck ramen so stuff it and push!" Sakura Haruno replied as they vanished into the chopper's troop compartment.

Satisfied that the line of CH-46's were ready to leave, the commanding looking officer dressed in his blue uniform gestured to the sky and walked down the line with each helicopter taking off as he passed. He turned to watch them leave as an aide came up next to him.

"The hospital's about 50 percent evacuated now Sir." Lieutenant Hawkeye replied as she whipped out a map. "We're establishing the military C.P. and primary LZ Northeast of here at Ogaki."

Mustang nodded intently. "Let's not expect to stay there. I hope to have this evacuation completed by noon tomorrow if we're lucky to avoid any unfortunate bottlenecks."

Mustang had been ignoring the tugging on his uniform coat till he turned to see the small boy-like robot with a red scarf tied around his neck. "Excuse me? I was sent to find Colonel Mustang? I was told to give you whatever help you needed to keep the roads around here open?"

Mustang smirked. "You? You're supposed to help me?"

Mars threw a shrug. "Why is it you humans always look at me like I'm too small?" Mars stomped over to a running CH-46, took hold of one of the landing gear and jacked the chopper up over his head. "This is really boring."

"All right. I'm convinced…put that down?" Mustang asked as he waved his hands around. "I have just the assignment for you."

"Great!" Mars replied enthused. "Is it dangerous? exciting?"

"It could be. All in how you make it." Mustang pulled out a wrench and put it in Mars's hand."

"What's this for?" Mars asked.

"We need someone to patrol the main road out of Gotemba prefecture and keep it clear of obstructions. Move vehicles off the the road when they break down and try to fix them."

Mars frowned. "In other words….a gear monkey."

"A valid description." Mustang replied smiling.

Mars pursed his lips and looked to his side frowning. "I swear Astro has the fix on me that counterfeit creep."

Meanwhile, Astro, Atlas and Larry were at the miniature golf course checking out the steaming fumaroles and the sand pit that had the lava oozing out from earlier. Atlas stood in the middle of the hardened lava toe tapping around and stomping on the bump strewn surface…

"Must be plugged up far below. This stuff's hardened up." Atlas said as he walked from the pit. "Aside from the new steam vents and some hot mud spots…it's calmed around here."

Larry agreed. "And no evidence of ground uplift. The gas output's still above what's considered safe but it hasn't gone beyond caution yellow yet."

Atlas bumped Astro's side. "Come with me." He ordered as he motioned a finger. "I need to talk to Astro for a moment." He said to Larry before taking Astro out of sight.

"You were nice to him. It's an improvement." Astro said smiling.

"Didn't want him to see what I'm up too that's all." Atlas said as he walked Astro to a nearby construction site. They stopped at a pile of thick, long concrete cylinders. "How long are these?" Atlas asked.

"35 feet. They're light pole masts obviously." Astro replied as Atlas sat on one.

"There's 300 of these here." Atlas said as he patted one. "We're gonna use them to anchor that sliding slab on Fuji."

Astro cocked his head. "Who owns them?"

"Right now? No one since they evacuated." Atlas replied.

"And we're gonna pay for them?" Astro asked.

"Yeah right…I'll get out my VISA gold card. Don't tell me you're going to start getting all moral and stupid on me? What's more important right now?"

Astro huffed. 'We can't just take them Atlas! You don't just walk up to something, say it's yours and walk off with it! People paid to have these built for a reason."

Atlas looked flustered, his lips pursed, his head shook as he took Astro by the shoulders. "Sometimes? You have to weight things out and take risks Astro despite your "morality crisis" to show a good impression for these whiny flesh bags. I'm very sure these will do anybody any good when all that dirt comes rolling down on people's homes. I'm sure a few humans are going to bitch because their precious light poles were more important to them than a few hundreds of humans who got killed because you decided maintaining good "P.R." was a more important priority. Now….I'm going to grab one of these things and chuck it into the side of the mountain so we don't have to worry about more than one crisis at a time. You can join and help me or lay a good fist upside my head…your choice mister Boy Scout."

"Atlas?" Astro questioned as Atlas walked to the end of a pole and swung it about till it stood up on its end.

"Atlas! You take off with that thing and I'll…" Astro didn't get a word in when Atlas blasted off and left him behind. After a few minutes, Atlas came back and grabbed another one.

"Atlas?! I'm serious…." Astro watched him take off again. A few minutes later he returned for another one…

"You gonna stand there all night or are you going to show me how to plow these things into the ground faster?" Atlas snorted.

"Damn it!" Astro snapped. "If we get in trouble, I'm not getting yelled at!"

"Fine!" Atlas snapped back. "Quit bitching and grab one!"

**7:45pm, June 19, 2013**

**National Expressway branch road 7**

**10 miles South West of Gonosomaru**

Who was Mars trying to kid, he actually loved playing around on machines…as was evident by the smile on his face as he emerged from under a mini-van with oil and grease all over it. "There! I think that fixed it…try starting the car now?"

The vehicle gave a smooth reply upon start. Mars waved a hand to ward off taking any money but he didn't mind the chocolate bar, which he enjoyed as if it were a girl friend…"Mmmm… Hershey…" He said as he slowly chewed.

The traffic was still flowing smoothly as the small boy bot took off and flew back and forth along the stretch of road he took charge of. "Heh! Let's see Astro be this efficient." Mars prided to himself. "Who needs all that power anyway? I wonder what he's doing? Probably posing for the newspapers I bet, that photo whore. I'd like to look that good and not do so much work."

Mars suddenly stopped short in his flying around and looked below him with a quizzical look on his face. "Huh? Vibrations…uh oh…" He hadn't finished before he caught the sight of a cloud of dust steamrolling down a steep slope of ground towards a section of the highway!

"EARTHQUAKE AND SLIDE!" He screamed as he dove like a bullet towards the roadway, snatched a bento truck like a snowplow blade and used it to push cars clear of the slide before it rolled behind his back and down the slope behind him!

The truck driver stumbled out of his cab and dropped to his knees shaking. "I…..I was dead….I was so dead!" The old man grabbed Mars and pulled him into a hug. "Thank you, thank you, thank you…"

"Dinner would be nice." Mars replied with a smile.

Not everyone was happy. One irate driver walked up and snatched Mars by his neck cheef and shook him hard. "You little bastard! Did you see what you did to my classic Dodge Viper! You stupid…"

Mars snapped back "Oh no…I'm not taking this kinda crap from anybody!" Grabbing the man by his pants, Mars manhandled him over to the destroyed road and dropped him. "Your Viper, the landslide…Stupid car…tons of dirt….who do you think wins out? Dumb ass!" Mars stomped off still venting as the man suddenly realized how lucky he was. "Some humans…when are they going to fix the stupid gene in some of these people, I swear…scream in my face? Should have let you surf the dirt you dumb ass…."

**8:06pm, June 19, 2013**

**Monitoring C.P. Gonosomaru**

Harry Dalton walked into the office connex with Steve Martin. "Where was that quake located?" Harry asked Stan.

"Preliminary readings put it 3 miles West of climbing station 7. Preliminary magnitude of 6.2. Preliminary depth shallow at 4 miles."

Harry and Steve went to the map on the wall. "That puts it about here. We should know in an hour or so if it was tectonic or magmatic, magma splitting rock…what about the North East flank?"

"Slid again." Nancy said as she pointed to her lap top. "About seven feet by the measurements."

**8:12pm, June 19, 2013**

**Mount Fuji, North East lower flank.**

"So we slid about 7 or 8 feet?" Astro asked as he sat atop one of the light poles he had just plowed deep into the ground. "Well…Atlas's idea will work when we get all these things in. Hmm…make up your mind Becks, is it my rockets or my tush you like to look at?"

Atlas walked up and gave Astro's head a slight slap. "Do you mind ceasing the vulgar sexting and getting back to the important stuff?"

"I was just asking a pertinent question." Astro replied. "It's not my fault you have a hard time with feminine robots."

"I do just fine thank you." Atlas replied huffing. "I'm at 52…you?"

"67!" Astro replied smiling. "You're slow."

Both of them blasted off to the construction site, snatched up a concrete poll and flew high above Mount Fuji before starting near suicidal angle bombing runs towards the flank below!

Atlas flew with the pillar under his body and pitched it forwards with all his strength just 50 feet off the ground!

"KAWHAM!"

The pillar kicked up a cone of dirt as it sank, leaving two feet of it still showing above the ground…

"WHOOSH!"

Atlas was thrown into a violent tumble from the shock of Astro's pillar flying inches past his head to a loud crash below…so violent was the impact that the pillar exploded, not buried but exploded into dust!

Atlas looked back up to see Astro covering his mouth, his eyes bugged in shock…

"Ooops…a little too much spit on that one." Astro said as Atlas floated up to him.

"What the hell was that?" Atlas snorted.

"I…was carrying it over my head and I pitched it." Astro replied with a shrug. "I was kinda doing Mach 4?"

"You were kinda showing off." Atlas snarled. "Kinda close to my head too….dumb ass. These are not lawn darts?"

Atlas flew off with Astro following him. "Well…it's still way more powerful than you."

"Don't remind me." Atlas replied snarling. "Pick up the pace too…I don't want to be out here all night."

"That quake was shallow, you know that?" Astro asked as he and Atlas grabbed another set of pillars. "Things are starting to get more dicey. The smaller quakes are increasing."

Atlas stood holding a pillar over his head. "No duh. And where's Mars? You got him out here, at least he could pull his weight."

Astro smiled. "He got commandeered by the SDF to patrol a highway. Last I heard he was complaining about some human getting under his shorts and he hasn't stopped being pissy yet."

Atlas laughed. "At least he's not somewhere causing grief. Is it really true that your creator and his are fighting over who built what?"

"Yes." Astro replied smirking. "Doctor Tenma and the other guy are wrapped up in a copyright dispute."

"Oh? I should sue them both for making a pair of wossy foot, lame do nothings." Atlas said smirking. "When it comes to helping robots I mean."

Astro said nothing back as he threw another column over his head. "Mars?" He thought, sending a radio signal off to where ever Mars was.

"Yeah?" Mars replied. "I'm finishing a clean up."

"When you're done, how about you come to where me and Atlas are at and give us a hand?" Astro thought as he threw the column into the ground below him. "I think he wants some attention, I'm not giving him enough and he's starting to complain."

"Ok!" Mars replied enthusiastically. "By the way? Did you feel that earthquake a moment ago?"

"Actually no." Astro replied. "Atlas wouldn't shut up." Astro watched Atlas throw his column and switched his radio frequency…"Hey Reno, you awake?"

"No…I'm on vacation." Reno said as he sat fixing one of the USGS remotely operated walking drones out in the compound lot. "Actually I'm fixing a robot…hey! I'm doing my job for once, what about that?!"

"At least you're doing something." Astro snipped. "Every time I walk into your apartment you're always on the couch under the sheets…don't ask me why?"

"Not in the mood for wise cracking right now, unless you haven't been aware of the latest. What are you doing any way?"

Astro flew back to get another column. "I'm working with Atlas to stabilize this sliding piece of the Northeast flank. I need you to call my friend Becky? I'll give you the numbers, ask her to run a series of surveys for me?"

Reno pulled a note pad from his shirt pocket. "What do you need?"

"Uh….Liniar spectrographs….series of 3. Enviro-thermal differentials…..series of 4. Gas emission Chronographic time series over 4 hours…and that's all I need right now." Astro stopped to think as he grabbed another column. "Oh yeah? Do you think you can find out how big the CPU is on a Predator drone?"

"Yeah. Even you could do that, not like its not public knowledge by now. Why?"

Astro smiled. "Just curious. You know us boys and size comparison?"

"I doubt it has a CPU as big as yours." Reno replied smiling. "Don't let Atlas beat you up too bad ok?"

**10:24 pm June 19, 2013**

**Northeast flank of Mount Fuji**

Both Astro and Atlas stood blank faced and dumbfounded as Mars stood confidently smirking on the imbedded pole under his feet…

"We had a head start." Atlas said exasperated.

"This can't be right." Astro said as he counted on his fingers…."No way he could get a hundred thrity two of those in the ground that fast…"

Mars leaned forwards. "You know why I could? Because YOU'RE A CHEEP KNOCK OFF… AND YOU JUST PLAIN SUCK!"

Atlas snorted. "You cheated you little snot! There's no way you could have caught up to the two of us the way you did without doing something!"

Astro snatched Atlas by the arm. "Now calm down! It's just a silly bet, what's it going to hurt?"

Atlas snorted. "My pride! I won't do it for that conniving snot rag!"

"Sheesh! Big bad Atlas a bet welsher, this will put a dent in your reputation with other robots. It's not like I want a leg or something? Astro's not complaining?"

"A deal is a deal Atlas. We made it."

Atlas snorted. "It was a deal made in good faith, not when one of us was going to play dirty tricks."

Mars smiled as he jumped off the buried column and bounced up to the two other bots. "Look, let's just call it non-binding ok, if you're going to be so pissy about it all?"

"I'll honor our bet…despite your miserable cheating. But you EVER…..EVER breath a word of this to ANYONE?...I'LL BLAST YOU TO A THOUSAND BITS!"

Atlas turned and stomped off still snorting angry insults at Mars. "Woe….is he upset or what?" Mars asked Astro.

"Oh he'll get over it." Astro replied. "Actually he does care about you and all us robots a lot."

Astro curled his lips and tilted his head. "Though I can't see him in a maid's outfit…just doesn't look right."

"KABOOM!"

The ground shook and almost threw Astro and Mars off their feet and an air concussion hit them in the face!

"Northeast….seven miles away…." Mars said as he scrambled to his feet and ran through the different vision settings in his eyes. "I got a column of heat about 20 feet wide…750 degrees F at the base coming from a mound about…."

Astro put his hand over Mars's mouth. "Ok….I see it now."

"Are you two seeing this?!" Atlas snapped in Astro's ears.

"Obviously." Astro replied as he and Mars jumped into the air. "Where are you at?"

"Standing at the base of it." Atlas replied as he ran around the bottom of the mound. "It's venting only ash but it's screaming like a jet engine up close! My guess is it's bottlenecking between the chamber and the vent!"

A beeping sound went off in Astro's head. "We could be busy real quick, leave a message."

"It's Reno! Lucky we got the immediate evacuations near there done, what do you see? I have a cluster of people around my desk!"

Astro and Mars closed in on the venting mound and hovered a few yards upwind from the flowing ash column ahead of them. "We got an ash vent so far. It's probably bottlenecked between the chamber and the top so it's blasting like a fire hose. Atlas is right there so I'll have him send you a volume output in a few minutes."

Reno passed a piece of paper to Greg Heslov. "That's Astro's preliminary readings, looks like this is the start of it."

Steve Martin came into the office as Greg passed the paper to Nancy. "What do we have?"

"Depending on timing? We have the start to a full blown eruption or just a sporadic release, the next hour should give us a positive." Nancy replied.

"Well if it's blowing ash, wouldn't that be positive enough for anyone?" Steve asked.

"Not if it closes up." Nancy replied. "This could be just a crack in the roof of the magma chamber due to expansion, which is what it sounds like given the jet engine like noise coming from the mound. The loss of pressure could quickly shut it tight."

"And then?" Steve asked.

"We pack our bags and get ready to haul ass." Greg said as he walked to his desk.

Nancy nodded and pursed her lips. "It's usually a precursor to a larger event or there might be a series of these mounds in a line and they all rip open at the same time, what you call a fire curtain."

Harry and Professor Amaki walked into the office. "Professor, I think you better call Tokyo and issue a fire alert for Gotemba and the surrounding towns."

Suddenly…Astro's voice cracked over a radio. "Uh?...it's stopped."

Harry snatched a radio off a nearby desk. "Astro this is Harry Dalton, what do you have?"

Astro, Mars and Atlas stood together brushing hot ash off their bodies. "It…..just quit?"

Mars snorted to Atlas. "Why does this look like some bad grade B movie?"

Atlas snatched Mars up by his shorts. "Well? Time to sacrifice a virgin!"

"Drop me you dufus!" mars snapped as he smacked Atlass off the head.

"Cut it out!" Astro snorted. "It's just stopped Doctor Dalton…now everything's like super quiet."

Harry turned to Steve. "You need to call a conference immediately, the Professor and I will draft what you need and it has to happen in the next 20 minutes."

"Done." Steve replied.

Harry turned to his radio as Steve raced out the door. "Astro? I need you and your friends to start taking readings in a 10 mile circle around that vent, temperature, seismicity, gas…constant feedback until I say you're done, can you do that?"

"Yeah. As soon as I can get the other two to stop beating on each other." Astro replied as he pulled Atlas and Mars apart from the wrestling tangle they were in. "If you don't mind postponing your displays of machismo guys? We got things to do?"

"I still say we should throw him into the vent." Atlas snorted.

"Can I throw you into the vent?" Astro asked.

"Bet I can get more data than the two of you?" Mars snorted as he took off.

"Another chance to avenge your losing the last bet?" Astro smirked to Atlas.

"Shut up!" Atlas snapped back. "Get up there and prove some usefulness?!"

**End of Chapter 3**


	4. Chapter 4

_**FIREY AND FURIOUS**_

An Astro boy, Dante's Peak cross over

By Dan

Astro boy © 1954 Osamu Tezuka © Sony Pictures. Dante's Peak © 1997 Universal and Pacific Western Pictures. © The character Steve Martin (Raymond Burr) Godzilla 1954. All rights respected, Non-Monitary fandom enjoyment only. Tsunade, Sakura and Naruto from Naruto© 2003. Roy Mustang © Full Metal Alchemist Brotherhood 2011. Cornelius and Zira Shaffer taken from Planet of the Apes 1969© Rowdey McDowell and Kim Hunter. Aramaki and Motoko Kusinagi © Ghost in the Shell.

Note: Astro Boy Character based off the PLUTO manga series.

Pierce Brosnan as Dr. Harry Dalton

Grant Heslov as Greg

Kirk Trutner as Terry

Arabella Field as Nancy

Tzi Ma as Stan

**10:50 pm June 19, 2013**

**Monitoring CP, Gonosomaru**

**Media briefing room**

Steve Martin came through the door and raised a waving hand to bring the assembled journalists to a hush…

"Ladies and Gentlemen, if you haven't been made aware by the obvious…we have had what the scientist here best describe as a "precursory volcanic event", what you and I would call in bold letters…"**NEWS ALERT HOLY "BEEP**!"" Please….that remark is off the record between us."

The journalists laughed briefly before one raised her hand. "Does this mean Fuji has begun to erupt?"

"No." Steve replied. "What happened was a release of material caused when the shell of the magma chamber below Fuji shifted and produced a fissure that was opened to the surface. It has shifted itself closed but this may signal that more events are on their way or it may not. The scientists are working to bring all their data together and make an assessment as quickly as possible. As a precaution, the Japanese government has been warned to prepare for the possibility of extensive fires in the forested areas Northeast of the volcano. The location where the release of pressure and ash occurred indicates that the volcanic danger is not confined to Mount Fuji alone, there are sub vents within the Fuji plain which could open at any moment."

"On the subject of the Northeast flank and the potential for collapse, at the moment that situation has been controlled. A series of 300 concrete pillars were "planted" for an adequate description into the mountain side to hold the sliding section in place and hopefully to allow a more controlled release of smaller sections…the robots involved wished to remain anonymous."

**10:57 pm June 19, 2013**

"What?!" Mars snapped as he listened to the news report in his head. "Did you hear that?! That's just messed up!"

"I didn't let you come out here so you could Brad Pitt on CNN Mars." Astro said as he floated with his hands on his hips. "We're not doing this to be famous. If we were, we'd spend too much time smiling at a camera instead of doing what we're programmed for."

Atlas flew by…"He's an attention whore."

"Shut up!" Mars replied snarling. "Sigh…it's not a bad thing to have a little attention, I mean…doesn't it help all us robots?"

Astro smiled and looked up. "Well…it's actually better if people see us not craving it."

"You're such a liar." Atlas sniped as he flew by again. "Astro looks meek on camera but he's twice the whore you are."

"If you DON'T shut up ATLAS! I'm gonna POUND YOU!" Mars screamed.

"Let's just get back to work…" Astro said as he rubbed over Mars's head. "We'll get enough publicity real soon."

**10:59 pm June 19, 2013**

**Press briefing**

"So at the moment Ladies and Gentlemen, the situation can be considered serious and may change radically without warning. I will do my best to keep you all fully informed." Steve Martin ended the briefing and was quickly surrounded by a ring of reporters…

"Beverly?" He said to one as she moved her way to the front. "I thought they moved you to Cairo last month?"

"They tried." The woman from United Press replied. "I told them I couldn't stomach the local food and I probably would be spending most of my good time in the bathroom. Honestly Steve, what are we looking at, best guess from your end?"

"Best guess? What we just saw tonight, best possible being something like that to worst a line of them spewing lava. The ash eruption I think is more of a concern. If the pressure in the magma chamber is as significant as the last time Fuji erupted, it could be pretty bad for the Tokyo region."

Beverly nodded and stayed silent until Steve was clear of company and on his way back to his own office…"Steve?"

"Persistent are we not?" Steve asked. "You'll chase me down for a story but not accept an invite to dinner…bad form Bev."

"Oh? And as if you weren't equally as bad at avoiding company? I'm talking of New York a few years ago, the…"My sick mother" excuse?"

"Which she was." Steve replied.

Beverly walked to get between Steve and his office door. "Let me tell you something you may not know yet. I had a conversation with Professor Yamada Shindo from Fukuoka University. He told me that Mount Fuji is actually a super volcano that's about ready to blow and when it does? We're talking Armageddon. Any truth?"

Steve pursed his lips. "That…I didn't know. I'll keep that in mind."

"Over dinner! And don't stiff me again." Beverly snapped.

"Fine." Steve replied. "Tomorrow then."

**11:29 pm June 19, 2013**

**USGS Monitoring office**

Reno passed another stapled collection of reading sheets over to Larry and turned back to his computer just as Astro walked up.

"Back so soon?" Reno asked.

"I got a temperature warning." Astro replied as he knelt down and rested his head on his folded arms. "I haven't gone to pause in like five days."

"And you left the other two by themselves? Shame on you." Reno joked. "Go head and get some rest, I'm sure they'll behave themselves."

Astro pointed a finger at the monitor. "Did you get that stuff from Becky?"

Reno pulled a zip drive from his pocket. "It's all there. A Predator drone? Don't you think that a bit strange?"

"A robot's a robot." Astro replied. "She's so cute."

"If you say she is." Reno replied smirking as he started another sheet report from information Atlas and Mars were sending him. "Go ahead and go to my room if you're tired." He told Astro. "I'll get you if anything goes high and right."

Astro tilted his head and patted Reno's arm. "You can do it right?"

"Huh?...that?" Reno replied. "Yeah….but it's going to be costly because I may not get approval from the ministry. But I can't turn you down can I?"

Astro gave a toothy grin . "Uh uh….wake me if you need me?"

"Trust me. You may not get to sleep for very long given how things are progressing."

**4 am June 20, 2013**

Atlas and Mars were not far behind in returning after Astro and by 4am all of them were "passed out" or in robot terms "catching the Pause button" together in Reno's room.

Atlas was sitting in a sofa, a Playstation controller teetering in his fingers as he softly mumbled a few choice words to the replays of past MPEG streams running through his head.

"You're such a stupid ass." He grumbled. Obviously talking about Astro.

Astro was curled against his pillow on the floor. He could sleep anyplace and it would be just right. Occasionally Reno caught him kissing the pillow and giving it a tender stroking…now what was he thinking? Reno shook his head, how Astro might work out using the same bed as a Predator done? He didn't know but Astro would probably try it.

Mars was parked on the sofa, his head resting over Reno's lap as the human teenager slept sitting up in the corner. The intent was obvious….to tick Astro off by soaking over his favorite human, but so far Mars couldn't get his rival to pay attention…much less wake up.

The waking problem was solved soon enough as Stan banged on the door and poked his head into the room amidst the sleepy occupants…"Hey! We need all of you to come to the briefing room right now!"

Mars really tried to ham it up, hugging Reno as he slowly shook the sleep off. "Mmmm…I just GOT to sleep! Ugh…."

"Hey…duty calls." Reno replied as he rubbed Mars on the head, the bot thinking he could get Astro upset gave Reno a hug and gave Astro a razzle tongue as he walked by.

"You two were made for each other." Astro said smirking.

"This had better be a big deal or someone's getting it." Atlas snorted. "I'll hit you since I Can't hurt the humans." Atlas snorted in Astro's ear.

The small group walked into the briefing room where Harry, Professor Aramaki and several others were clustered around the center map table. "Sorry to pull you all from your dream sleep but we just finished sorting through your collected data from the previous hours…obviously we don't like what's come from it." Harry said as he allowed Astro, Atlas and Mars to slip through the ring of people as Professor Aramaki elaborated…

"Temperature…pressure…ground lift…have been increasing…especially around Kometake. That golf course especially…the whole ground is shifting. Every hole at the course by GPS has shifted five inches in 12 hours…"

"That would throw off a game huh?" Mars said with a smile.

"You think this is some sort of joke?" Atlas snorted.

"No! Sheesh pull the enema out of your…."

"SMACK!" Astro hit Mars off the back of the head. "Cut it out and pay attention?"

"I'm afraid that….barring sudden positive changes…our time is starting to run short." Aramaki said as he waved a hand over the map on the table. "With all this data, the most possible event that will trigger the larger eruption will be a rip fault or fire curtain of vents. Kometake looks to be the epicenter."

Steve Martin was at the back of the group. "Professor? I had a feeling you were not telling me the full story on what was going on here. I've been wondering when you were planning to fill me in?"

Everyone looked at Aramaki. "My intention was to wait until we have enough information to be certain of our research. The reason for our caution is…warranted given the panic it will cause."

Steve nodded. "So…we do face a super eruption?"

Aramaki nodded in return. "I fear so…what we must now do is plan to prepare the population of Japan and the greater world for what will come. It is simple to say we face Armageddon, however blunt we must take care how to say it."

Atlas looked aside at Astro, slowly grabbed his hand and squeezed it…"Turn on your radio and set it to our cypher lock." He thought.

"Ok." Astro replied.

"So…how close are we actually in taking things over?" Atlas asked.

Astro pursed his lips. "About 90 percent…why?"

Atlas frowned his eyes. "We should move the moment they announce what's going on."

"No." Astro replied. "We will not."

Atlas gritted his teeth. "Come off it! You know what's going to happen? Do you think these monkeys have the emotional control needed to take this on? It's going to be a madhouse! We should move at the first second to put them under control or they'll be a mob of unruly hammer swinging hyena!"

Astro snapped back. "No! Look who's talking about a lack of patience?! It's an absolute last resort not something to give you a hard on!"

Atlas scowled at Astro with a snort. "You're a real dumb ass! Wanna take this outside?!"

"Bring it moron!" Astro replied with a smirk.

"You two sound like a couple of dumb first graders." Came Mars's voice suddenly in both feuding bots heads.

"What?" Astro replied stunned. "What the heck? How did you?"

"When you're more technically advanced than your two dumb ass clones, it's not that hard." Mars looked at both of them smiling.

"Little shit." Atlas snarled.

"How about you stop being a big mouthed donkey and pay attention? It would save us all the trouble." Mars said.

Atlas looked at both of them. "You're both as useful as a stick!" He turned and walked out. His grumbling got everyone's attention.

"Is there a problem?" Harry asked.

"He's just got a bug up his ass." Mars said pointing behind him.

"More like a semi-truck if you ask me." Astro said as he looked up relieved. He was sure though that Atlas would be waiting, like Butch from the Little Rascals, leaning against a light post with his fist smacking a palm and a chip on his shoulder looking to settle a score for his embarrassment. Astro turned his attention back to the meeting where the Self-Defense Force Regional Commander, Colonel Mustang and his aide de camp Lieutenant Hawkeye were leaning over the table map…

"What do you need from the SDF in terms of broader action? We need to consider evacuations of Kanto…Tokyo, Yokohama, Kamakura…where are we going to put over 200 million people? The country doesn't have sufficient real estate as of late. I need the go ahead to notify the Chief of Staff and the Defense Minister as soon as damn well now." Mustang said as he patted his hand on the table. "We'll obviously need support, especially from the American bases at Yokosuka, Atsugi, Zama, Fuji and Misawa."

Harry looked over at Aramaki…"We have to brief the Prime Minister…my advice is not to wait regardless of the outcome, I think we're at the boiling point threshold here."

Aramaki nodded. "I will call Tokyo. Schedule the meeting for 9pm…after that a press conference. Before that…the President of the United States, Ambassadors in Tokyo and the United Nations will be informed."

"Phhhhh….uck." Mars said as he gasped and looked up.

"Yeah….about right." Astro replied. He walked out of the connex with Mars in tow and sure enough, Atlas was standing by a truck with a surely look on his face. "Ok…" Astro said as he stopped. "You want to fight?"

Atlas looked aside and groaned. "You enjoy making a game of my patience don't you?"

"An ounce of caution is better than a pound of….well…I'll admit you're right that when the news hits, a lot of humans are going to lose their minds but we can't just barge in, take control and tell all of them to go rotate on a threaded object."

Mars snorted. "Just say "go screw themselves." When you censor yourself? You sound like a true dumb ass."

"And we can't expect those with a brain cell to control the ones who don't." Atlas huffed. "If humans are going to survive this, we have to intervene! You're the one who's leading all the planning, don't tell me that not a single time the thought hasn't passed between those ridiculous head bangs of yours?"

Astro looked at Mars then back at Atlas. We do it when I say we do it. I suggest that if you don't like it? You go ahead and start throwing punches. Otherwise? Shut your stupid yap or I'll shut it for you."

Mars saw where things were headed as Atlas closed up on Astro with his fist clocked at his sides and pushed himself between them. "Look guys…why don't we go find some ice cream, chill out and settle this with some reasoning? We haven't got all day for a stupid fist fight."

"There's no time for ice cream." Astro said as he frowned at Atlas.

"Shut up." Atlas snorted. "There's always time for ice cream."

**6am 20 June 2013**

**Monitoring C.P. Gonosomaru**

Colonel Mustang watched the H-60 Blackhawk come in to land in the field before him and ran with Lieutenant Hawkeye to meet the woman who jumped out of the sliding passenger door. Lydichi Armstrong was all intimidation and all business, a blonde Japanese of Chilean decent, the first foreign born Japanese military officer and woman to rise to Chief of Staff JMSDF…

"Colonel I trust you have a full briefing planned for me before the Prime Minister's arrival?" Armstrong asked sternly.

"Yes Sir." Mustang replied. "I spared the worthless flummery trust me."

"Super volcano…how nice of the egg heads to tell us at the 11th hour. I plan to brief the Commander of U.S. Forces Far East and the Seventh Fleet commander after the meeting with the Prime Minister. They both promised not to inform the President of the United States but I bet you by now he has a somewhat simple appraisement with a prominent "Oh fuck!" attached to it."

"I'm sure the Prime Minister is amused." Mustang remarked. "Begging pardon Sir but we have little time to react…so the scientist believe…how the hell are we going to move 200 million people out of danger?"

Armstrong stopped short of the compound to look at Mount Fuji. "Consider it "Operation Triage" Colonel, a sickening way to approach it. We'll save what's essential and the unfortunate rest will be sorted. My unfortunate station is to be the sorter, reputation be damned. Let's get on with the briefing…."

Armstrong handed Mustang her pistol. "Keep that…a wrong word from these scientist might cause me to shoot one of them."

**7am 20 June 2013**

**20,000 feet over Mount Fuji**

Astro plugged the USB cable from his chest into the reception slot through a small panel in the hump that formed the nose section of the Predator drone…

"Hi." Astro said in a cheerful dreamy voice as he sat on the spine of the UAV slowly rubbing his hands over the smooth skin.

"Giggles"….."You argued with Atlas over ice cream?" The young sounding female voice replied. "That must have been hilarious."

"That's how most of our disagreements end up now a days." Astro said relieved as he rolled onto his back. "Better than like three years ago when we were out and out beating each other's snot. Reno was getting sick of all the repair bills."

Becky rolled into a slow lazy turn. "So what's your story?" Astro asked. "How did such a sweet voice….can't exactly call you a girl….yet…how did you end up being a Predator drone?"

"I was supposed to be the first self-aware UAV, the kind that could take off and attack on its own. Guess they didn't take into account the self-aware part or that I would pick up the meaning of the 3 Laws…I…..had internet access and I learn super quick."

"I guess you didn't like the idea of being a weapon? Join the club." Astro said smirking. "So what happened?"

"Oh…the day of my first weapon test…I blew up a porta potty and sprayed the reviewing stand full of Army officers."

"Laughter" "Brilliant!" Astro chuckled as he almost rolled off Becky's back.

"They assumed it was a technical glitch and tried again. So….I blew up the General's car. Actually I shot the missile under the General's car and blew it into a lake. They….promptly canceled the program and sent me to targeting duty to shoot lasers at targets so another predator could hit them."

Astro braced himself. "Please tell me this is gonna be classic?"

"I flew over a nude beach and took videos….they quickly sent me to do unarmed reconnaissance…I was in their words….hopelessly bugged. They blamed it on hackers."

"LAUGHTER" "Why didn't I think of that?! I might have been able to escape that circus sooner if I looked like a pervert." Astro said as he rolled back onto his stomach and tenderly patted the Predator's smooth skin.

"So Astro? Why do you like me? This is obviously the most silly date anyone's been on."

"Well…." Astro replied resting his head on his folded arms. "You just sound….very sweet, very cute and very nice. Its obvious there's not much else to comment about…except your propeller? Very shapely."

"Astro?"

"You know your processor will easily fit into a robot body and it wouldn't take much to remove you from this drone? Reno can build you a body, I asked him. Of course I'll have to do favors for eternity to pay him back but I'm a real work whore."

"What would I look like?" Becky asked as she reduced her engine power and allowed her airframe to slowly glide around the sky.

Astro rubbed his chin. "Green eyes are a must…jade eyes, I'm very fixed on Jade, I think I have Jade A.D.D. . You'll have long blonde hair, really smooth, down to the middle of your back but it'll always be neatly styled with a jewel tiara.

"About my height…unless you want to be taller? And super cute….super, super cute…a very cute face that melts people…I…." Astro smiled warmly…."I'll just stop there and say you should be totally cute."

Becky chuckled in return. "You're just wonderful…but...dont' you think Atlas might be a little right as far as the humans?"

"You've been spying on us." Astro remarked.

"A girl's right…after all I should know something about my boyfriend shouldn't I?" Becky asked.

Astro sat up on her back. "It's sort of complicated…let's just say that Atlas thinks humans come from a cookie cutter machine…same size, same make, same look, same behavior so he treats them all the same because that's all he knows of them and if you've been around him? You know he's as one way as a flying bullet…even bouncing off my fist a few times hasn't change him."

Astro laid back on his stomach and drummed his hands on Becky's spine. "You…can't treat humans in a lump as a batch of bad eggs no matter what they've done or what they might do. They are a cleaver species, if they weren't I'd be a toaster or easy bake oven…actually an easy bake oven might be cool."

"Astro?" Becky quizzed. "Given humans and major disasters though? Their record is rather less than stellar."

Astro frowned. "Is it just me or is every robot stuck in doom mode? Humans can surprise you, that's why I'm so fascinated with them! Just when you might count them down and write them off, they always…always snap back. I'm actually very confident that they have an answer, that at the last moment when things look their worst? Some human will come walking through the door with a solution. I guess I crunch my numbers differently or that I have faith or that I'm a crazy foolish robot kid but I chose to remain confident…despite Atlas's bitchy mood."

"I'm not going to even waste my time trying to compute any of it…so far it's coming out as Atlas being the winner and you being a fool."

Astro stood up pouting. "Then I'll just leave."

Becky suddenly snapped hard to her left and threw Astro off his feet , bounced him off her wing and threw him back on her back…"Problem is….I love a fool."

Astro contorted his face and smirked. "I'd kiss you? But you don't have lips."

**7:30am 20 June 2013**

**Monitoring C.P. Gonosomaru**

General Armstrong always had the habit of sitting with her service sword standing upright between her legs, her normal appearance when dealing with unpleasant news…

"So that's it?" She asked with a stern face. "Quite a nasty position we find ourselves in Gentlemen. Makes me think God has a contract out on Japan. Our Eastern Prefects are a nuclear disaster, the Western Prefects are packed to the centimeter and all of Kanto is about to be blown to hell. Not many options to work with. So between Mister Amaki and Mister Dalton, how much time do we have?"

Harry looked at his watch…"two….perhaps three days if we continue to see increasing readings. We're monitoring by the mili-second with all our instruments. We may have twenty four to as little as four hours notice of the precursory event."

Armstrong nodded slowly, thinking as she re-read the reports in her hand. "I will recommend to the Prime Minister that a State of National Emergency be declared with a release to authorize full mobilization of the JMSF and all reserves, that includes every robot in the country. I will also begin the process to remove the Imperial family to a host nation.

Aramaki stood up. "You know what his Imperial Majesty's answer will be?"

"Do you think I am one to allow a pampered 15 year old with a title to push me around? The survival of the Imperial line and personage is central to our cultural heritage. If this event will be as horrible as you describe than something precious to this nation must survive." Armstrong gripped her sword tight. "I promise you, volcano, tsunami, war, disease…if it is the lot of Japan to be destroyed, it won't go down without a fight."

Armstrong looked at her watch. "If you will excuse me? I have to brief the Prefectory Commanders of the situation and begin the process of mobilization and staging. Colonel Mustang?"

"Yes General." Mustang got up and followed Armstrong out of the room.

"I have to prepare the assembled press myself." Steve Martin said as he walked up to Aramaki. "I don't need an in depth explanation Professor, but I think if I should release anything, it should come from you and not me."

"You'll have it in ten minutes." Aramaki replied.

Harry turned to Greg Heslov. "I want you, Stan and Larry to go to Kometake. Put some additional instruments around that golf course…in a wheel back about 2 miles. Don't go sight seeing. Greg? Go find those three robots and have them see me?"

**7:47am 20 June 2013**

**Monitoring C.P Gonosomaru**

Astro returned to see Atlas standing with Mars. "Where have you been?" The red boy bot snorted. "With your precious humans in danger, you have the time to go off on your own?"

"He was bed riding his girlfriend." Mars said smiling.

"MARS!" Astro yelped.

"If you're going to mattress rodeo Astro, the least you could do is get a love motel." Mars said grinning.

"He couldn't get those wings through the doors." Atlas snorted.

"FUCK OFF!" Astro screamed! He slapped his mouth closed with his hands and looked around worryingly.

"WHEWWW!" Mars whistled. "Do you talk to Becky like that?"

"Shame on you." Atlas snorted. "You shame all of us with such a mouth."

Astro threw his hands up and walked towards the office connex growling.

"So how is she?" Mars needled. He shut up the moment Astro gave him a serious kill look. "Oh come on! If you can't take just a little ribbing from something so trivial, how do you expect any of us or the humans to trust you?"

"It's not your business." Astro snapped to Mars. "Especially when you ease drop! You have no right!"

"Sheesh…she blew him off, the only reason he's so pissy." Atlas snorted.

"She didn't….ugh!...just drop it!" Astro snarled.

"Next time? Buy her chocolates before you bring up sex." Mars snickered, getting his last jab in before the three bots walked into the office and met Harry.

"Well…" Harry said as he looked at them. "I hate to say we must ask you all to work around the clock but we have to ask."

"Some of us might hold to that." Atlas snickered as he butted Astro's side. Astro growled at him…

"We understand." Astro said to Harry. "So the Prime Minister is going to speak?"

"That and the JMSDF is going on full alert…including the reserves. And every robot is being called up with an activation order. By the way…we haven't been able to thank Epsilon for diverting the weather around Mount Fuji, the dryer the Northeast slope remains, the less worry we have…or had to this point."

Atlas nodded. "I'm sure she understands...she keeps her focus on her work…unlike some of us."

Astro butted Atlas hard.

"Is there a problem?" Harry asked as he saw Astro frowning.

"No….just some friendly ribbing." Astro replied smiling. "Atlas can be a pain."

"Bet she didn't have to say that about Astro." Mars smirked, which promptly got him slapped.

"We'll do whatever you need Doctor Dalton." Astro said with a quick salute.

Harry turned to look outside a window as he heard a helicopter touching down outside the compound. Obviously the Prime Minister had arrived. "Well….looks like the show is about to begin…come what may."

**End of Chapter 4**


	5. Chapter 5

_**FIREY AND FURIOUS**_

An Astro boy, Dante's Peak cross over

By Dan

Astro boy © 1954 Osamu Tezuka © Sony Pictures. Dante's Peak © 1997 Universal and Pacific Western Pictures. © The character Steve Martin (Raymond Burr) Godzilla 1954. All rights respected, Non-Monitary fandom enjoyment only. Tsunade, Sakura and Naruto from Naruto© 2003. Roy Mustang © Full Metal Alchemist Brotherhood 2011. Cornelius and Zira Shaffer taken from Planet of the Apes 1969© Rowdey McDowell and Kim Hunter. Aramaki and Motoko Kusinagi © Ghost in the Shell. Bender© Futurerama.

**Chapter 5**

**8:14 am 20 June 2013**

**Monitoring C.P Gonosomaru**

Motoko Kusinagi was silent still five minutes after the briefing, one hand opening and closing as she cycled all the information…

"So you are certain? The threat exists, the chances that this activity may subside are low? I want you to be clear on this." She asked.

"Yes Madam Prime Minister." Aramaki replied. "All our monitoring information shows no sign that the present activity will subside. An eruptive event is certain."

Harry nodded. "It follows the same track line as Pinatubo in the Phillipines. We're starting to see Sulfur poisoning of the aquifers in Gotema and Kometake, it's proof that magma is moving upwards towards the surface."

Kusinagi bit her lips…"On any scale, what are we expecting?"

Aramaki folded his hands and rested his chin on his fingers. "Toba. Equal to or greater than the Toba super eruption in Indonesia. Mount Fuji, the five lakes, the whole Fuji plain will likely collapse as the magma chamber spends itself. Bluntly, it will make Japan uninhabitable within a day…it will affect the world globally within a week with lasting effects in a month."

Kusinagi nodded sternly. "I have already given the mobilization orders to the JMSDF and signed the executive order to put all robots under government control…with the exceptions you both requested. It is imperative you keep us constantly informed. Perhaps a little divine assistance wouldn't hurt." Kusinagi stood up. "Good luck gentlemen. Your services are appreciated, just so you know. Now to break the news and hope people don't lose their minds."

Outside, Reno was doing a quick service check of Astro, Atlas and Mars with Atlas giving the passing Prime Minister a surely look…

"Bitch." He quietly snorted.

"That's not nice." Mars huffed. "Actually….I kinda like her, she'd make a nice looking robot..or an android…She'd probably be soft to cuddle with."

"I told you this would happen didn't I? Ordering all the robots to mobilize yeah…mobilize to stay behind and get destroyed…"

Astro shook his head. "You always complain….you complain when humans do something, you complain when they don't! You complain we're weak! You complain we're too strong! You never stop complaining and you never do anything positive!"

Reno snorted. "He's positively annoying."

"Well at least he does something productive." Mars sniped with a smirk.

"So what I just did for these…urrrr….on that slope was nothing?" Atlas looked at the others and ran off…

"Oh great, so now he's going to go cry." Mars snorted. "He can't hack anything."

Astro drooped his shoulders and ran after Atlas. "Don't fall for it Astro!" Mars yelled. "He just wants attention! Man….I'll never understand those two, they're both built wrong."

"I'm sure they think the same of you Mars." Reno said as he probed into Mars's open chest door.

"Don't get too walky in there…I'm looking for a camera on you." Mars warned. "It would be like "Knock off" to steal ideas for parts."

It took a few minutes but Astro finally found Atlas sitting under a tree. He sat down on the opposite side of the trunk and played with his fingers…"Boy…I really was insensitive…I shouldn't have snapped off like that." Astro said as he turned around. "Atlas? I'm sorry."

"I just need a few minutes." Atlas replied as he wiped an eye. "You have a set of steel nuts finally. Usually since I've known you? You've always been a little pussy foot whimp."

"I've been hanging around the humans too long I guess." Astro said. "Of course you've done things that matter, you've always done things that mattered in some way…though not always tactfully."

Atlas rolled around. "And sometimes? You've done things that defy logic. Sometimes I wonder why I intervened to save your butt? You're not the smartest cog in the pump."

"Aptly put….jerk." Astro sniped. "So we're both imperfect. Just don't leave? We need you, really need you. If I have too, I'll be your personal slave for a year, wait on you hand and foot and you can treat me like worthless trash all day and night."

Atlas looked at Astro and threw his hand. "Nah…you'll become boring after ten minutes. Don't lower yourself, you'll make us all look stupid."

Atlas stood up and waved. "Come on…let's save these humans from themselves…don't asak me why I'd even try."

**9am 20 June 2013**

**Prime Minister's address**

**NHK TV**

(Alert Chimes)

"This is a special NHK broadcast of National concern. The Prime Minister asks all citizens to pay calm attention as this address is of dire National Emergency. We now direct our attention to Motako Kusinagi, our Prime Minister."

"_My fellow citizens of Japan…and wider citizens of the world…"_

"_Since 2001, the Government of Japan has directed the most detailed study and monitoring of Mount Fujiama following indications that the mountain may have entered a cycle for increasing activity following 300 years of quiet peace. This monitoring was increased following the great Kansai Quake of 2011 and the following 6.5 earth quake in the Fuji region in June of that year."_

"_After an exhaustive, in depth analysis by professionals in Japan and the United States, strong evidence has revealed that Mount Fuji is not a single volcano but part of a substantial volcanic caldera…a Super Volcano. Within the past three months…unmistakable evidence and data are pointing towards an eruption of this caldera. The size…scope and power of this eruption could be equal to or greater than the Super eruption of the Toba caldera in Indonesia some 10,000 years ago. This eruptive potential has the capacity to destroy Japan and devastate the wider world."_

"_I have seen all the available data and as Prime Minister of the nation I have made the decision to wait not another second to take all options and actions availed to my office to respond to this growing threat. The Fuji super volcano threatens all life on Earth and threatens our country with its total destruction."_

"_As Prime Minister, I have directed the following immediate measures…"_

"_One…I have ordered the full mobilization of the Self Defense Force and the ready reserves. All active and reserve members will report to their units without delay. As I speak, elements of the 1__st__ and 2__nd__ Army Corps are mobilizing to begin the evacuation process from our major metropolitan centers in the Kanto Plain."_

"_Two….I have requested military support assistance from the United States Pacific Command and the North Pacific Command of the Russian Republic. I have also sent requests for aid from our allies and from the United Nations."_

"_Three…All robots in Japan are now under the orders of the Self Defense Force for immediate mobilization to aid in the evacuation process and augment the National Police Force to keep order. The military, the national constabulary have orders to implement Martial Law and emergency curfew. I ask our citizens to maintain calm and comply with all orders given by the authorities."_

"_Four…evacuations will commence immediately in the major Kanto region. We urge all citizens to prepare for orderly evacuation by planning and limiting hindrances to travel. Pay close attention to your local officials, carry with you what is only most essential for your life and safety and assist your neighbors."_

"_Lastly…As your Prime Minister, I take full responsibility for the weight and burden this looming danger will place on all our citizens. I ask all of you to join me in faith that the divine province will intervene at this most critical hour. We as a people are not new to such danger, we have faced them before with a resolute heart, we shall do so again. We will survive. God willing."_

**6pm Pacific time**

**NBC Nightly News Special Report**

(NBC Alert music)

Announcer: This is an NBC NEWS SPECIAL REPORT. JAPAN, CRISIS AT MOUNT FUJI. From New York, Brian Williams.

Brian Williams: Good evening, at the moment on our screens we are looking at a familiar scene which may soon be catastrophically altered for all time, Japan's Mount Fuji tonight is active once more as a volcano and with potentially devastating consequences for both Japan and the larger world. At this moment the Prime Minister of Japan has imposed Martial Law, evacuations of Tokyo and the greater Tokyo Metropolitan region are underway and the world has been warned to brace for a super volcanic eruption of epic proportions. The President will make a statement in about one hour but we begin our broadcast from Japan first and joining me here in the studio from the University of New York is Professor Laurence Chambers, director of the Geology Department. Let's go now to Lisa Haines in Tokyo…Lisa, what's happening at this moment and what are people feeling?

Lisa Haynes: Brian, this is a massive undertaking by far, the evacuation of over 200 million people from this densely populated corner of the world under the looming threat of Mount Fuji. Scientists wish not to sound confident but they claim there is as little as 48 to 72 hours before some significant action occurs which could start the super eruption they fear.

The Prime Minister announced the full mobilization of every sentient bi-pedial robot in the country, more than 1 million at present count with factories in the country running as if Japan were at war, and they are Brian with Mount Fuji. I have one robot here directing traffic at the moment, excuse me Sir I'm Lisa Haines with NBC News.

Bender: What up toots?

Haines: Ummm….toots?

Bender: You gotta forgive me, I'm not versed in pleasant discussion see…I'm a steel bender robot one minute and a traffic cop the next….hold up a second.

(Bender walks over to a sputtering car, opens the hood, fixes the engine)

Bender: Use oil pal…show the car a little respect….yeah, yeah….shut up and keep moving that way…

Haines: Mister Bender? Do you have any thoughts about this mobilization of robots?

Bender: It's our purpose. The humans need us and we come a running, not that it might matter in the end. You got a volcano about to blow the whole world's balls off? Oh yeah toots…we're boned. I gotta get back to work. Shoo!

Haines: Brian, at least someone's finding levity in this situation.

Brian Williams: Indeed Lisa, Lisa Haines in Tokyo. Now we'll turn to Professor Chambers, Professor? Just how serious is this situation, the potential for what many are now calling a significant danger to mankind.

Professor Chambers: Brian, Mount Fuji is actually part of a greater volcanic system or single caldera like Yellowstone. What you have is a hot spot, huge pocket of magma roughly 350 square miles in size and all this could be brought forth with an eruption that starts small but ends catastrophically. It may rival or exceed the eruption of the super volcano Toba in Indonesia, that eruption killed roughly 86 percent of the world wide human population at that time.

Brian Williams: Is…this volcano capable of doing what Toba did?

Professor Chambers: From the data I've been privy to…this eruption would certainly devastate Japan, it would render the Island of Honshu uninhabitable. Within a week, the ash will encircle the Earth, cutting off vital sun light, dropping global temperatures…in months you'll have catastrophic farm failure, livestock die off and from that point we're head long into things that for the lay term Brian?...it's the book of Revelations. Once the volcanic process proceeds to eruption, all you'll have left is prayer."

Brain Williams: What should people do? In this country? In any country?

Professor Chambers: Prepare as you can…that's all I can offer.

Brian Williams: Thank you Professor. Once again as we await word from the White House our own Jim Nickelashefsky is at the Pentagon where American forces are already on the move in Japan, Jim tell us what's happening there.

Jim: Brian, US Forces in the Far East have been put on alert, especially in Japan where the U.S. military has several key Pacific bases and they are in motion expecting heavy loses of those facilities.

US Officials have ordered all naval vessels to sea including the aircraft carrier USS George Washington and her battle group out of Yokosuka and Atusgi and a Marine Amphibious force and it's airwings from Okinawa and Southern Honshu.

Army infantry units based at Camp Zama and Marines at Camp Fuji are being redeployed to Kyushu near Nagasaki to assist the Japanese with refugees. All civilian dependents and contractors now in Japan have been advised to pack lightly as they will be evacuated within the next 48 hours from Yokota, Kadina and Atsugi airbases to Pearl Harbor in Hawaii.

The Commander of US Forces in the Pacific reportedly sent strong warnings to the Chinese and North Korean governments not to attempt to take the coming crisis to their advantage, while U.S. forces may be preparing for a volatile Mount Fuji they are certainly not relaxing their guard. Brian?

Brian Williams: Jim Thank you. Doctor Chambers…it is hard to even comprehend what I have read here, the prediction that Mount Fuji which is such a world recognized icon of Japan could simply vanish if this scenario plays out.

Professor Chambers: This is what usually happens when a volcano of this magnitude erupts Brian, The most famous collapse of course was Krakatoa in Indonesia in the late 1800's. When a volcano completely expels all the magma from the chamber below it, the crust and ground above are simply too heavy and it all falls into the void. It will change the Japanese landscape for all time.

**9:47am 20 June 2013**

**Kometake City Golf Course**

"Hey? Stop being so preoccupied with the news and give me some more wire?" Reno said as he back hand tapped Astro in the ear. "They're not saying anything that we don't know of."

Astro shook off the noise in his head and pulled a spool of wire from a tool box. "Here."

Reno took hold but Astro wouldn't let go of the spool…his stare and mournful face seemed to express the concern he was having…

"You're…not going to get all soppy eyed are you?" Reno asked.

"I won't let anything happen to you." Astro replied.

"This is a little against your programming isn't it? Showing a little selfishness for one human?" Reno softly rubbed Astro on the head. "You start crying and we'll never get this done. Besides, Atlas and Mars will have a picking fest and you're not good to me when you're distracted."

"Reno?" Astro asked softly. His emotions were getting out of whack...

"Sheesh….come here for huggy time, what I get myself into for humanity." Reno pulled Astro into his chest and gave him a gentle hugging. "You're filling your glass with too much weight."

"Tell me about it." Astro replied as he pulled back and rubbed his head. "I've got like 50 different processes going at once…it gets overwhelming. I get calls from tons of robots, I'm processing data streams, monitoring my own performance values…"

Reno smiled. "Not missing a step at all."

"I have a reputation to keep up." Astro said as he sat on the ground and clicked his boots together. How many more units do we need to hook up?"

Reno looked around. "At least 20 more. We'll have this park so wired up, it'll know when a golf ball lands on the green."

Astro looked up when he heard the whines of Mars's turbo fan engines over his head.

"Atlas needs to see you right now." Mars said as he landed and took Astro's hand. He led Astro off the golf course and over to a nearby amusement park where Atlas stood with his arms out stretched and his hands forming a box that he looked through.

"What?" Astro asked as he landed.

Astro pursed his lips and closed an eye. "The ground here is bulging and I mean it's bulging as I'm looking at it. About 3 inches in the last 15 minutes."

Mars got on his hands and knees and put an ear to the ground. "Kinda faint but I can hear like popping sounds….ten miles…..eight…..eight…eight…..little less than eight…."

"Keep counting." Astro said as he patted Mars's head and radio'd Reno. "Reno? I'm at an amusement park near the golf course and the ground here is uplifting. We can hear what we think is rock fracturing less than….eight Mars?"

"Seven now…..seven…." Mars started to move around the ground like a dog with his ear still glued to the dirt.

Atlas stood still, his head turned down. "Ground temperatures warming, going up by fractions. Deformation continuing now another inch…" Atlas looked at Astro. "Another few minutes and we are out of here."

Astro looked upwards. "Becky? You up?"

"I'm on the South West side of Fuji." Becky answered as she cruised above.

"I need you over Kometake quick." Astro patted Mars on the shoulder. "Get up."

"I sure hope this isn't it." Atlas said as he kept looking around the park. "Another inch! Temperature still climbing…if there's a vent….where in hell?"

Mars stood up and pointed to what looked like a version of a Disney Magic Mountain ride some 70 yards from where they stood. "That's not man made."

"They built a park ride in a volcanic vent, talk about wanting a thrill." Astro started running with the other two trailing him. "Reno! Call Doctor Dalton, tell him we have a volcanic vent building for a possible eruption!"

"Oh man….five miles! Don't you think standing here is illogically stupid?!" Mars yelled to Atlas.

"Don't ask me! We're the one's following dumb ass here!" Atlas said as the three bots bounded over the fence around the mountain ride. "What's your plan fearless leader?!"

"We have to be sure!" Astro said as he slid to a halt. "Gas readings?"

Atlas snorted back. "You can't read this!" He said as the information cycled through his processors. "Climbing….sulfuric, C3, Fluorine, Chlorates…"

"Four miles!...four miles…..less than four…less than four….ground swells increasing!" Mars snapped out…

Atlas grabbed Astro's arm. "It's time to get our butts away from here!"

"We'll do it when I say we do!" Astro snapped back. "We have to pass as much data as we can!"

**9:56 am 20 June 2013**

**Kometake City Golf Course**

Reno didn't brake a stride as he ran and jumped flew through the air, dove into the open side door of the van as it screamed by the golf course parking lot and flew down the street towards the highway leading out of the city. He was lucky not to smash hi8s lap top as he pulled it out of his backpack and started typing away at it!

"They're sending me so much data so fast that I can't keep up, where are we?" Reno screamed as the van did a hard over slide onto an on-ramp!

"Five miles! Hope they don't mind if I break the speed limits!" Greg snapped from the driver's seat. "What about those three, are they nuts?!"

"They're fine, just drive!" Reno replied. "Two miles! Passing two miles!..."

**HAPPY BLISS Amusements**

**Kometake City 9:58am 20 June 2013**

"Passing two miles!" Mars shouted as he watched the numbers roll over his vision. "Gas emissions climbing! Ground deformation now cycling faster…."

Astro suddenly heard Becky's voice in his head. "Please tell me you're not hanging around there?"

"Ok I won't." Astro replied. "Atlas?"

Atlas felt Astro grab him by the arm. "Do you think our surge cannons could cut a shaft down the center of that mound?!"

"Yeah…if it's light volcanic dirt and rocks, why?" Atlas asked as Astro pointed to the top.

"Let's cut a stove pipe through the mound and see if we can vent what's coming up through it? If we don't and the ground below us continues to expand?"

Atlas gritted his teeth. "You're not totally de-balled after all. We might just buy some more space, let's do it!"

**Kansen National Roadway**

**10am 20 June 2013**

Reno snapped from what Astro said into his ear buds…"You gonna do what?!"

Larry in the passengers seat looked back. "That sounds like something crazy that we may not like is it?"

"They're going to blast a hole in a mound at the amusement park so it'll vent the pressure and whatever's on its way up! Astro says if they don't do it now, the whole place is going to go up like a super nova!" Reno patted hard on Greg's back…."Go faster?! Go faster!"

"What do you want me to do? I got my foot to the damn floor!" Greg replied. "Good thing they evacuated everyone by this morning around here!"

**HAPPY BLISS Amusements**

**Kometake City 10:01am 20 June 2013**

Astro and Atlas jumped into the air and quckly hovered over the top of the Mountain amusement ride while Mars stayed on the ground and continued to call out the advancing horde from below his feet. "I've got ground tremors starting down here!...2.3…2.8…3.1….gas is screaming off the charts, ground deformation now past three feet! What ever you guys are planning, you better do it!"

Astro's right hand and Atlas left morphed into a set of powerful arm cannons, each making a growing whine as they charged up from the bot's powerful central cores. "The best way would be for us to fly in a circle and spiral our shots!"

"When we get to ten feet before the eruption, you pull back and I'll fire a surge shot to set it off." Atlas said snorting.

"You?" Astro asked. "What better way to blow your rival to kingdom come…you're getting soft."

"I'll do it because leaving me with that whiny little bitch down there will really make me angry and no one will like that will they?" Atlas frowned.

The two robots started flying in a chase the tail circle, one following the other as they flew faster and faster and in an ever tightening circle! "Watch your head down there Mars! I think you should start running!"

Mars snorted. "Run? Being a coward is below such a powerful robot…."

"**KRACKWHAM!"**

The loud screaming surge of power and the impact the beams of pulsed energy made as they slammed into the mountain ride cause Mars to abandon his dignity as he went into a screaming run with his arms flailing over his head!

"YOU GUYS TRIED TO KILL ME! YOU'RE GONNA HEAR FROM MY CREATOR!" Mars squealed.

"Oh shut up and stay out of the way!" Atlas snarled as he and Astro continued to fire into the mound and carve a path through its guts and towards the advance hell bent surge speeding towards the surface. They stopped as their efforts brought the mound within a merwe moment of being blown to bits…

"What?!" Atlas asked as Astro hovered looking worried. "Damn it, I said go!"

"You sure you're going to get out of the way in time?" Astro asked. "Atlas?"

Atlas wasn't taking any backtalk. He snatched Asto by and arm, rolled him around and gave him a hard kick in the ass…."I SAID GO YOU STUPID IDIOT! YOU'RE SUCH A PAIN IN MY ASS!"

Atlas whirled around, pointed his cannon at the hole in the top of the mound and looked back to make sure Astro was flying away…

"Hmph!..."Will you be alright?"….Such a whimp…Why do I always end up helping him?"

Atlas fired a single powerful ball of plasmatic energy that flew from his arm cannon, into the maw of the mound…

Where it unleashed all out hell.


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6**

**10:03 am 20 June 2013**

**HAPPY BLISS Amusements**

**Kometake City**

Atlas took the full brunt of the shock wave as it surged from the mound and threw him end over end through the air till Astro snagged him by the ankle…

"I thought you were faster than me?!" Astro asked as he held Atlas upside down and looked at the rapidly growing tower of volcanic ash.

"I was being dramatic." Atlas smirked back. "You know we're going to get yelled at for doing this?"

"It was this or something worse." Astro replied. He turned to see Becky pass him by.

"What about that van full of people?" Ask asked her.

"Long gone towards Gonosomaru." Becky replied. "There's no humans within ten miles at the moment."

"Hey!" Mars shouted as he flew up. "Can't we close this thing up?"

"Are you kidding?" Atlas snorted. "That's like trying to put a finger into a hole in the Hover Dam, we couldn't pack that vent tight enough even if all three of us collapsed it."

"Are you guys alright?!" Came Reno's voice in Astro's head.

"Yeah…" Astro replied. "Where are you?"

"Heading back to Gonosomaru." Reno said as he speed typed into his notebook. "What happened?!"

"We had to make a choice!" Astro replied.

"We blew up the Park!" Mars screamed out. Atlas smacked him off the head.

"You….WHAT?!" Reno screamed back.

"We had to relieve the pressure below the park or the whole place was going to go up like an atomic bomb!" Atlas snapped.

"You…..triggered the eruption? Oh that's not going to go well." Reno worried.

"You can take my television and my Play Station away for a month?" Astro said as he and the other two bots flew back towards Gonosomaru. "Everybody wait while I answer some calls…"

"You two are so going to get punished for this!" Mars snorted. "That's what happens when you get copy cats trying to be heroes."

Atlas snatched Mars by his neckerchief. "You're a part of this dork so don't try weaseling yourself away."

"Better start crafting a good excuse." Mars snorted back. "The humans are not going to be happy at all about this."

**10:42am**

**Monitoring C.P.**

**Gonosomaru**

"The ash column has now reached 20,000 feet, civil aviation warning has been issued!"

" Negishi reports ash fall has begun…one inch ground accumulation."

"Traffic has slowed on the National highway heading South West from Tokyo and Yokohama."

Astro walked through the door with Atlas and Mars and quickly got snatched by the hand by Harry Dalton. "You three had better come with me."

"See?" Mars said snorting. "They're pissed."

"Shut up!" Atlas snapped back. "There wasn't another choice."

Harry opened a door and lightly pushed all three robots past him. Inside the room was Professor Aramaki, Colonel Mustang….

"Doctor?" Astro said as he suddenly saw Doctor O'Shay standing with his arms folded. "We didn't have any other option, honest."

"You all absolutely certain?" Harry asked.

"I just want to go on record?" Mars chirped. "I thought they were stupid, Hey Doctor O'Shay? Since we can't get a hold of Tenma, you should be on notice that my creator is going to sue you and the Ministry for copyright violations!"

Doctor O'Shay walked over and bumped his hand on top of Mars's head. "Behave yourself?" He then looked at Astro and Atlas. "You two are sure you didn't over react? I'm surprised, panic would be a new phase for both of you."

Atlas crossed his arms. "The ground was rapidly uplifting and the tremors around there were increasing in size, Astro was certain that had we not opened that vent? The whole park would have exploded and things would be worse for everyone by now."

Doctor O'Shay turned to Professor Aramaki and Doctor Dalton. "Gentlemen?"

"I would say it was the best of worst situations." Aramaki said. "It will buy us more time but in the end the outcome won't change. Eventually the magma chamber will destabilize."

Doctor O'Shay nodded and took a moment to think to himself. "Given what we face, a radical and possible solution does exist."

"There is no solution…at least for a volcano." Harry replied. "Unless you know about a valve handle to the Earth's core that we don't."

"It's not exactly that." Doctor O'Shay said as he leaned against a wall. "Before he became a scientist and director of the Ministry of Science, Doctor Tenma was a resident student and Teacher at Columbia University. He was under the tutelage of the late Doctor Edward Teller."

Astro raised a finger. "Doctor Edward Teller, Doctor emeritus in Atomic physics and father of the Hydrogen bomb."

Mars pouted. "Yeah…encyclopedia dumb ass we know."

"Ok….so he was friends with another old fat guy, what about it?" Atlas said snorting.

"Don't you talk like that!" Astro snapped at Atlas. "Doctor Teller was more than just a bomb maker!"

"Yeah…knowing how loony Tenma was, he probably got it from that old fat guy." Mars snapped.

Astro pushed Mars over. "I'll shut your mouth if you keep it up!"

Atlas pushed Astro. "Don't push him!"

"ALL OF YOU STOP IT RIGHT NOW!" Doctor O'Shay screamed. "We don't have time for your petty antics….any of you."

Atlas shrugged. "Look…just how are you going to stop this from getting any worse? There is no way you can stop the process. We're the most advanced and powerful robots around and we can't stop this."

"He's a virgin?" Mars said snickering.

"You wish." Atlas snapped back. "But no one said we can't throw loud mouth brats into a volcano."

"Hold on?" Astro said waving his hand. "What do you have in mind Doctor?"

During his tenure at Columbia, Doctor Tenma worked with Doctor Teller on a physics thesis to harness the power of nuclear fusion and reverse the properties of an atomic reaction to create a spherical force of inversion temperature flux…"

"HEY!" Mars yelled out. "How about a grade school level definition? I don't have all day to translate this."

Doctor O'Shay sighed. "A bomb that instead of producing a nuclear chain reaction, produces the absolute temperature of deep space. A bomb capable of freezing everything it affects. Doctor Tenma called it a Frajirian (Frah-jeer-ee-ann) warhead."

Mars snorted at Astro. "Wow…not only was your creator a thief? He was also a megaton whack job."

"I'm not going to entertain you!" Astro snapped. "Doctor? What about this thing Doctor Tenma was developing? Did he ever make one?"

"No." Doctor O'Shay replied. "Doctor Teller passed away and Doctor Tenma moved back to Japan. It was still in a theoretical state but before he left America, Doctor Tenma entrusted the research to an under-study student in his charge who continued the work. He and his wife are on their way here."

Professor Aramaki shook his head. "You intend to use this device on the volcano?"

"It would be a weapon of last resort." Doctor O'Shay said crossing his arms.

"Excuse me." Harry said raising a hand. "You're saying that this weapon could stop the eruption? To do that would require stopping the process at the source and if you were even capable of that?"

"The consequences are well understood Sir." Doctor O'Shay replied. "The two scientists coming here have informed me that there is a way to control the device and limit the effects to shutting down Fuji's system, however they haven't given any specifics as of yet."

Atlas looked at Astro and sighed. "We're so screwed it isn't funny."

"Cut it out?!" Astro replied with an elbow bump.

Just then, Steve Martin poked his head into the room. "Gentlemen? You're all wanted out in the main room? Things are starting to go from serious to somewhat critical."

As they moved into the main room where scientists and monitors were clustered around Pair of computers, astro stopped as a voice filled his head. "Delta? What's the situation in Metro City?"

**Metro City, The Nitrobe Bridge**

**11am 20 June 2013**

The Nitrobe is one of three critical Tokyo Bay bridges serving the densely populated Tokyo and Yokohama city plains and though the traffic was flowing orderly enough, Captain Delta's analysis was putting time against the fleeing populace.

"I'm on the Nitrobe and we're starting to get serious ash fall. At the rate it's coming down there's no way we can keep up with the accumulations forming on the bridge way. We need to add enforcement to the spans and keep this bridge up as long as we can!"

Astro looked up to see Atlas listening in. The red bot didn't say another word, he turned and snatched Mars by the wrist. "Let's go."

"Huh?" "What?" Mars asked as Atlas dragged him behind him.

"We're going to earn our buck fifty an hour, stop asking questions."

Astro walked for a bit but Atlas stopped him with a raised hand. "Stay here. We'll be right back."

"You're starting to act more like me." Astro said smiling. "That's scary."

"Stop reminding me." Atlas snorted back. "You just hold the fort here and keep busy. I find out you were sitting around and I'll kick your ass."

Reno came running up and caught the two bots before they left. "Hey! You guys aren't modified to handle taking in volcanic ash…"

Atlas scowled back. "There's no time. I think we know what to do about that so don't needle us."

Reno looked at Astro then at Atlas. "You just do what you have to do and get back here as soon as you can."

"You take care of yourself." Atlas replied. "And keep dufus busy." He then ran out of the connex with Mars and took off as Reno and Astro followed them out and watched.

"If this keeps up, you'll be out of the job." Reno said to Astro smirking.

"Fine by me. I need a vacation." Astro replied. "It couldn't have happened at a better time, that's for sure."

Walking up to a group gathered around a set of computers, Astro, Reno, Harry and Professor Aramaki joined in as the scientists debated the effects of the single eruption vent at Kometake.

"So what is the estimates? Where will we go from here?" Steven Martin asked. "I have to plan another press update quickly."

Nancy turned from her computer and tapped the screen. "We face two solid possibilities. The best one is that the eruption continues from this single vent and dies out or continues, which give us some time to save as many people as we possibly can. The estimate is over the next 14 days. At 14 days the magma chamber gets so empty that the ground collapses and "blam" you get the super eruption. The second is it starts to rip open all over the place and we lose time. The super eruption comes in six days."

"Seems the super eruption looks to win out regardless." Steve said rubbing his chin. The other people around him seemed to agree.

"So…" Astro said as he wiggled his way to stand behind Nancy's chair. "We need to keep a close eye for potential spots that could break open."

Harry leaned over. "We can't be completely hard wired enough. Between satellites, ground sensors, lasers, computers, radio transmissions…we still have big gaps in our real time views."

Astro scratched his head for a moment. "Is there an airport or small airfield close to here?"

**2pm**

**20 June 2013**

**Rhukia Kutchki Airfield**

Reno and Astro stood at the end of the small runway, Reno giving Astro more than a few quirky looks as the small bot bounced giddily on his toes.

"You know….?" Reno said almost chuckling. "My idea of a girl is…well…long hair, sort of curvy in the body…"

"She's a robot." Astro remarked. "You'd probably joke if she were a toaster."

"I didn't say that!" Reno replied. "It's just…well a Predator drone's not exactly what I imagined you'd fall in love with."

"She's a Predator drone only in looks." Astro said smirking. "Really, you'll like her."

Just then, they saw Becky drifting down to a landing and watched as she slowly rolled to the end of the runway and stopped a few inches from Reno's face…

"She was going to kiss me." Reno joked.

"You must be Reno." Came a soft teenager's voice. "Astro's told me so much about you."

"Oh?" Reno said as he smirked at Astro. "He's capable of stretching the truth."

"He is cute." Becky said as the laser/camera ball beneath her nose swung from side to side. "Astro, I may just dump you."

"That being said." Reno said as he walked and looked Becky over. "What do you want me to do?"

Astro tapped his foot. "Well…I would ask that she look like Molly Sirus but that'll be later. She'll need an atomic power plant so she can stay up longer and a new sensor package with a faster processor. You can do that right?"

"Piece of cake." Reno replied. "Uh….you're not going to get upset with me getting a little intimate with her are you?"

"Go somewhere you shouldn't and we're going to tangle." Becky snorted back. "I'm not the only drone around."

Astro smiled as he patted Reno's head. "Don't forget to look up?"

"Very funny wise ass." Reno replied as he walked beside Becky towards a small hanger.

"How long is it going to take?" Astro yelled.

"At least four hours." Reno replied. "And you don't have to sit around kicking rocks, I'll be gentle!"

Astro chuckled and took off towards Kometake and the ever growing ash plume.

**2pm**

**20 June 2013**

**Monitoring C.P. Gonosomaru**

**News Conference**

CNN reporter: 14 days? So in 14 days the super volcano will totally explode?

Steve Martin: That's not certain. The mort hopeful outcome is that the volcano shuts down before that, that is always a possibility.

NHK Reporter: But not certain by the estimate of some scientists. There are a great many in Japan alone who feel the process is now well on its way to a catastrophic end.

Steve Martin: Once again…prudent measures are being recommended, actions are being taken but one does not simply throw away all hope and start digging his own grave. Our responsibility my friends is to provide the truth and the facts others need to make the best possible choices and we must always report the best and worst of outcomes but never tell people that they might as well roll over and die, that my friends is irresponsible journalism.

Steve walked out of the meeting all but exasperated till Beverly walked up with a cup of coffee in her hands. "You handled that well considering…"

"I was about ready to lay that man out on the floor. "On it's way…" Who the hell made him King of the world? You agree with me don't you?"

Beverly leaned against a wall. "Tell me honestly what your gut tell you Steve…really?"

Steve swished his cup around and sighed. "Unless providence delivers a miracle, I'd say we're all screwed. But we don't have the right to tell humanity they can start slicing their damned wrists and give it up…I don't intend to give up….do you?"

**2:25 pm**

**20 June 2013**

**Imperial Palace, Tokyo**

**Residence of the Imperial Family**

General Armstrong stood respectfully as his majesty glanced at her…rather…stood on his toes and tried to match her height, which to some looked amusing. But no one in the room was going to tell this 14 year old that he looked ridiculous.

"No." The boy said sternly. "We are not leaving. We will not be seen skulking to a helicopter in the night like some indignant rat fleeing a sinking ship."

"Highness." General Armstrong said sternly. "Your safety…"

"Our safety…does not over ride that of our subjects or our nation. Both come before us and…I am getting tired of talking so silly…sigh…"

"I understand the strict formality Sir which comes with being the…"

"Descendant of the Sun Goddess, keeper of the unbroken line since the dawn of heaven, I know all that…Let's cut all the formal stuff and talk like average people before my brain explodes?"

General Armstrong relaxed. "As you wish Kaigunwa."

"It's Toshiro, General. Toshiro. I would like for once to be known by my real name." The white haired teen said as he took a seat. He quickly raised a hand to a horrified attendant. "My behind does not require a special seat….please? My the things I put up with. I almost never have any fun and to do so I have to sneak out of my own house and cause the whole country to go on alert?"

"You speak of the robot you constantly get caught with?" General Armstrong said with a slight frown. "While he does a great deal of good your highness, he has gotten you into more than enough trouble."

"Let's just forget the throwing eggs at punk bikers incident shall we General?" Toshiro remarked smirking. "And it was their fault for destroying my skateboard, if you remember?"

"I see." Armstrong replied. "But I must insist Sir…"

"Toshiro…Olivia…..Toe-shee-row….not Sir, not highness, not Emperor, not son of heaven…"

"Very well….Toshiro…we must ensure the survival of the Imperial lineage, if our nation is to suffer its destruction, the culture of our people must survive and that includes you even if you resist it. The people will understand…"

"But I won't." Toshiro snorted back. "So I should be wrapped in silk and carried away while my people suffer, perhaps die? No. My ancestors would be livid. I think the last thing I want in the whole world is to have my great great grandmother, who width-stood the bombings of Tokyo during the great war much to the frustrations of my Great Great Grandfather, cast me over her ghostly knee and spank my spirit to eternal damnation for being a self preserving coward! No General….my place is here with my people, end of story."

"Toshiro? Please don't…" Armstrong stopped when she got the meanest look back by the young sovereign.

"I have faith, which it seems many others are lacking. I don't see Astro running do you? I don't see any of the robots in Japan running and surely we have made very sure that they have that right and yet they're all staying in their place. I must have faith that something is going to stop this, that our people and our nation will survive and that's why I am staying here. Honor that please?"

General Armstrong thought for a moment. "Very well then…I will not impose on you."

"Good." Toshiro replied. "But make sure that my Sister MoMo is safe? Obviously she will raise a bitch and complain. If she does, you have the right to tie her up like a mummy and lock her in a box. If you don't she'll surely escape."

"My but you're a mean older brother." Armstrong said smirking.

"It's part of my job description." Toshiro replied smiling.

End of chapter 5


	7. Chapter 7

_**FIREY AND FURIOUS**_

An Astro boy, Pluto, Dante's Peak cross over

By Dan

Astro boy © 1954 Osamu Tezuka © Sony Pictures. Dante's Peak © 1997 Universal and Pacific Western Pictures. © The character Steve Martin (Raymond Burr) Godzilla 1954. All rights respected, Non-Monitary fandom enjoyment only. Tsunade, Sakura and Naruto from Naruto© 2003. Roy Mustang © Full Metal Alchemist Brotherhood 2011. Cornelius and Zira Shaffer taken from Planet of the Apes 1969© Rowdey McDowell and Kim Hunter. Aramaki and Motoko Kusinagi © Ghost in the Shell. Bender© Futurerama. Parts of story line drawn from © PLUTO manga.

Note: Astro Boy Character based off the PLUTO manga series.

**Chapter 7**

**5:25 pm**

**20 June 2013**

**Over Kometake**

Astro caught up to Becky as she made slow circles around Kometake at 30,000 feet. "So? How do you feel?" He asked.

"A baseless question." Becky replied. "It's great not to be tied to a gas tank and the additional sensors help a lot though the extra weight's a drag. I'll give Reno credit though, he's certainly good at what he does."

"I think so." Astro replied. "Any changes?"

"Thankfully no." Becky said as she rolled her camera ball around. "The vent hasn't opened up, the output of ash and gas are not changed. The surrounding land is showing no deformation, temperature shifts or gas emissions. Where are Mars and Atlas?"

"Back in Metro City helping the police. Isn't that ironic?" Astro said smirking. "Atlas used to juggle police cruisers for a hobby."

**5:29 pm**

**20 June 2013**

**Metro City, Nitrobe bridge**

"Grrrrr…..WILL YOU HURRY UP?!" Atlass creamed as he struggled to hold the large plate of steel over his head.

"Uhhh….bring it forwards a little….too much!...back an inch….I said an inch!" Mars said exasperated as he stuck his thumb up again to check his measurements.

"COME ON!" Atlas snapped. "JUST PICK A SPOT AND TACK IT IN DUMB ASS!"

Mars stopped with a hand on the plate. "Tsk…we have to be certain the location is right otherwise this could endanger the whole span instead of help it. It's you who's got the problem, you're not moving it accurately enough."

Atlas grinded his teeth…."Look you little bitch!…you're not the one trying to hold up a 500 ton brick of steel on your shoulders…just find a spot and tack the dumb thing in or so help me I'm gonna use it like a bat and knock your silly head across Tokyo Bay!"

Mars huffed back. "Sheesh! Astro's so much more mature than you Atlas and that's hard a compliment for me to give him! At least he'd understand the importance of…"

Atlas followed on his threat! With one quick swish of the plate, he batted Mars into a concrete pillar and back to a face plant against the plate's surface!

"Now?" Atlas snorted. "Are you gonna shut your trap and finish this or do I have to hit you harder?"

Mars shook his head and pushed off of the plate. "You suck! When I tell Astro…"

Atlas flew into Mars's face with the plate cocked and ready to cut loose on him…"Go ahead and say it….please say it?" Atlas said smirking.

Mars flew over Atlas's head, snatched the edge of the steel plate and pulled it up into place where he tack welded it with his laser finger. "There."

"That wasn't hard was it?" Atlas asked. He flew out from under the bridge span and rose over the roadway to look at the flow of traffic. "things are still moving at least." He reached into the bag slung around his neck and slipped a respirator mask over his face.

"Do we have to wear these things?" Mars asked as he flew up next to Atlas. "They're a pain. I can't see with em on at all."

"Would you rather breath in this ash and be a useful door stop?" Atlas replied. He dropped onto the roadway when he saw a car stall. "Find these people a vehicle to get into." He said to Mars before he turned, picked up the empty car and chucked it over the side of the roadway.

Someone slapped a hand on Atlas's shoulder and spun him about. "I should arrest you for that." Came the growling voice of Inspector Towashi from under his own breathing mask.

Atlas confidently smiled. "Well, well…what's up? Isn't there a doughnut shop you could be terrorizing right now?"

Towashi snatched Atlas by a wrist. "You're lucky you've been activated by the Government you terrorist! Astro can't keep making excuses to cover your blatant law breaking forever, mark my words when this is over, you will be enjoying your spare time in my jail and I swear it will take a hundred years before you get a trial!"

Atlas looked upwards and stretched his fingers at his sides. He copied the motion from Astro, something he'd do when Atlas frustrated the heck out of him…perhaps to keep him from throwing a punch or two…obviously he got it from these dumb humans... which Atlas silently chided but felt relieved when it worked…

"Sigh…look Towashi…yeah you hate me, yeah I'm a pain in your ass but at least I'm here. I could just…you know….sit back and let your stupid fat soaked, carbon based, fragile life forms expire but even I, whom you hate, know fully well the value you all bring upon this planet and too us robots and as much as it pains me?...I am more than willing to throw my chips and circuits into a boiling lava pit to save just one of you. Now….you can go ahead and slap the cuffs on me or let me do what you all programmed me for."

Atlas got on his knees and held his arms over his head. "I surrender."

Towashi growled. "Get out of my sight…and make sure you get that car out of the water or I'll fine you for illegal dumping you thoughtless pile of scrap!"

Towashi stomped away as Mars walked up. "Who contaminated his hydraulic fluid?"

Atlas stood up and dusted the ash off his body. "It was nothing, just a traffic citation I have to clear up that's all."

"I got another steel plate ready." Mars said as he pointed towards the shoreline.

"Can you put in the right place this time?" Atlas asked.

**7 pm**

**20 June 2013**

**Monitoring H.Q. Gonosomaru**

Note: Cornelius and Zira Sahffer are played by actors Rowdy McDowell and Kim Hunter circa 1969.

Doctor O'Shay watched as the CH-46 military helicopter came to rest in the field and a crewman escorted two passengers up to him as the other members of the crew started to unload boxes from the back…

"It's been a wile hasn't it?" Doctor O'Shay said as he reached out his hand. "Cornelius, sorry to drag you away from your field work on such quick notice."

Cornelius removed the cloth and plastic head protector from his head and shook Doctor O'Shay's hand. "I haven't slept much to be sure. You wouldn't happen to have a cup of coffee handy would you? Ugh…"

Cornelius slapped his head. "I forget everything but my socks, I swear!"

"What?" His wife asked as she stood giving her husband a sarcastic smirk.

"In all the hurry Zira, I forgot my note book…I…."

Zira stood with a thick black binder in her hand. "If it wasn't for me every day you would be running around like a naked ape!"

"Zira, you haven't changed at all." Doctor O'Shay laughed.

"If I ever change Doctor, Cornelius will forget himself so quickly that we'd have to send out a search party to find his mind. Now we will need to set up quickly and some help would be most appreciated."

Just then, Astro landed next to the Doctor. "Well, you always have a habit of showing up when needed Astro. Zira? Cornelius you haven't met Astro yet."

"This is him?" Zira said as she pointed. "Marvelous! I hope at some point you will permit me the opportunity to look at you at length! Doctor O'Shay never seems to tire of talking about you."

"Yes…" Cornelius said as he chimed in. "As a nuclear engineer, I am very interested in your construction. So much atomic potential in such a small power plant, truly an evolutionary achievement."

Astro rubbed his head. "I really don't know how much time we're going to have you know, there is that problem we have to deal with." Astro pointed a thumb towards the ash plume in the distance.

Cornelius looked at the distant ash cloud and motioned his lips around in a circle. "Of course... Doctor O'Shay, if you would be so kind as to help us get set up?"

**7:30am**

**NBC NEWS SPECIAL REPORT**

**Brian Williams**

Good Morning from New York, an update on the growing situation in Japan near Mount Fuji as you may know there was an eruption for a volcanic vent in the city of Kometake that continues. This eruption is affecting Tokyo and the greater metropolitan region around Japan's capital. For now leading scientists in both Japan and the U.S. are calling the situation "stable", meaning that so far as it stands, this eruption is basically a time buyer. Joining me again is Professor Chambers from New York University, Professor what exactly do they mean when they call this situation "stable" ? "

Chambers: Well Brian, in Super Volcano terms, an eruption from a single vent such as this slows the process just a bit. So long as it remains this way there is a possibility that the volcano will stop but there's also the eventuality that the magma chamber will empty to the point where it starts to collapse, right now we may be about 14 days away from a collapse event or the volcano will stop before that time. We just have to hope that we don't see more vents erupting, that will be a really bad sign.

Brian Williams: With us also is the director for FEMA, Doctor Marcus Hoemheim from Washington D.C., Doctor Hoenheim we're already seeing early signs of people making runs on gas stations, grocery stores, banks even though the eruption hasn't affected us here in North America as of yet. At what point will things get so desperate….

Hoenheim: Excuse me Brian…first thing I have to say is the last thing anyone needs is for media people like you to sensationalize the situation and cause an all out insane panic and that's exactly what you were about to do. I urge those watching this program to be careful, listen to your local authorities and maintain calm…

Brian Williams: That seems to be rather difficult Doctor considering we have reports of trouble at some major shopping centers in California and Washington State. Now we know that the eruption will soon have a major impact on aviation from Asia which in turn will affect every aspect of life, do you advise people to stalk up if they haven't already done so?

Hoenheim: Once again Brian we are urging people to take prudent precautions and try to remain calm, keep at the minimum a 3 day supply of water and food available and help each other, nothing will be gained for anyone if we don't care for each other.

**8:30pm**

**20 June 2013**

**Monitoring H.Q. Gonosomaru**

"Are you planning to call me every five minutes? It's becoming distractive." Becky chimed in Astro's head. He didn't talk out loud of course, for the moment going through the motions of reading the note book in his hands…

"I'm just….concerned." Astro replied.

"You keep being so "concerned" and I may just land and let you do all the work. I'm not a china doll you know." Becky said.

"I just…." Astro replied as he played with his lips. "I….well you know!"

"Astro?"

"What?!" He snapped as he turned about to look Zira in the face. "Oh! Ugh….sorry! I didn't mean to jump like that….I have like ten thousand…..things! Things….running through…my head…"

Zira raised her hands. "No offense taken. You've read the theoretical notations, what are your observations?"

Astro stood scratching his head. "Doctor Tenma came up with this? It's an amazing idea.. you use a fission device to detonate a fussion device which inverts to a device that creates deep space. In simple terms? Was he drunk?"

Cornelius chimed in from where he was sitting with Doctor O'Shay. "Yes…..yes he was. It was at Los Alamos in 1969 and the Doctor, Doctor Teller and several scientists were at an establishment arguing among themselves and overly tying on the good spirits when Doctor Tenma scribbled a theoretical formula on a bathroom hand towel, a hand towel mind you, and said…."I have something to outdo all you idiots!"…or so the story goes."

Astro smirked. "Yeah…..that's about Doctor Tenma's speed. So you can build a weapon with this?"

"That's the sticking point." Cornelius said with his hands folded under his chin. "I believe I have the formula for a working device…"

"Which you have proven is feasible." Zira chimed.

"Proven feasible is not the same as functional." Cornelius snapped back calmly. "It might be good on paper and may I remind you Zira that we have no way of scaling this device nor of pre-testing it? My God we don't know what effect it will have."

Astro waved his hand. "Soooo…why not test it? Can't you do any computer simulations?"

Zira sighed back. "We've tried that. The formula is so complex and so massive in memory that three attempts by three different super computers around the world ended in firey explosions."

Astro. "Funny metaphors."

Cornelius shrugged. "No…..they were firey explosions, the computers blew themselves to pieces. You should have seen what IBM's Big Blue did, took out a whole section of IBM headquarters, very nasty mess…."

Doctor O'Shay stood up and crossed his hands behind him. "But you both think this device can be tailored to affect the Fuji volcano?"

Zira nodded. "If correctly calculated, this device would turn the volcanic hot spot below the mountain into solid rock, a massive plug that would end the threat for millennia. If we could calculate it."

No one noticed that Atlas was leaning against the rooms door jam till he piped up. "How about instead of one computer? You use a thousand."

"Nice to see you're back without any problems." Astro said as Atlas walked up.

"I thought this would look cool for dramatic effect." Atlas replied. "You've been using only one computer…I'm not surprised given humans and their 2D view of the world. How about you break the formula into smaller portions and give us robots a crack at each one?"

Zira looked Atlas over. "Your reputation doesn't inspire confidence. I've heard of you."

"And his does?" Atlas snapped back as he pointed at Astro. "This dufus got an F in finger painting class."

"Yeah…" Astro lamented. "I do kinda suck. But I play great recorder."

Cornelius threw his hands up. "Do you mind?! This is not something to play around with as if it were elementary school mathematics!"

"I know that!" Atlas replied. "This is the best shot you humans have to be honest because without it…you are all screwed! It shouldn't matter if "we" look like a pair of 6th graders or a stupid toaster to you, what matters is what we all have. Give us the formula and lets find the answer…or should we robots just sit back and watch all of you die?"

Atlas looked sideways at Astro and saw his lips quivering. "You start crying and I'll beat your ass."

Cornelius reached for his lap top and put it in Atlas's hands. "God be with you."

Atlas took it with a serious face and nodded silently before turning to Astro. "You up for some serious networking?"

"I….." Astro thought then nodded. "Damn right I am brother."

Astro followed Atlas out the door with Doctor O'Shay smiling softly, holding back his emotion.

"I don't know about you two?" He said to Cornelius and Zira. "But I think I just witnessed a miracle."

End of chapter 7


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter 8**

**11pm**

**20 June 2013**

**Ogake Ridge**

**10 Miles West of Kometake**

"Output rating…15kg S1 CO2 per hour and stable. Volumetric output…30 pounds per cubic foot and stable. Output velocity…15 miles per hour and stable." Stan continued to voice out the measurements while Greg remained fixed next to him scanning the incoming video feed from the high flying Becky.

"That slab of flank has shifted again. Some of the stabilizing rods Astro and Atlas sank have shifted by 5 degrees to the Northwest." Greg said wiping his hair.

"It's ground shift or uplift, one of the two." Stan commented.

"I'm still watching it." Greg replied. "Any word from your relatives?"

"No." Stan said shaking his head. "But if I know my Grandmother she's swinging a sword around her head and telling all the others to go to hell. What's the infra-red showing?"

"So far there's no abnormal shift in ground or water temperatures around the Komotake vent. Does that thing even have a name?" Greg asked.

"No." Stan replied. "Not officially."

"Good. We're going with "Lynda" then. She's my ex girlfriend, the real super bitch I keep complaining about." Stan snorted. "It puts out like her."

"My aren't we hateful?" Stan joked.

**11pm**

**20 June 2013**

**JMSDF H.Q. 7****TH**** Infantry Battalion**

**Nikibukaro-Cho**

The assembled officers rose to their feet as General Armstrong entered the room. "At ease. This won't be a long meeting." She said as she took her seat at the head of the table. "Colonel Mustang? Evacuations proceeding at a good pace to this point?"

"Yes Sir…despite the unpleasant mess from above. Thanks to the call up of the robot reserves, all the bridges in the metropolitan areas are enforced enough to stay up. Air transport however is becoming an increasing dilemma of which Epsilon apologizes she can not remedy."

"She's doing enough by diverting inclement weather." General Armstrong replied. "By keeping things dry, we won't have to deal with roads as impossible as wet concrete."

Another officer raised his hand. "Sir? About his majesty?"

"He gave me the royal middle finger." Armstrong replied. "He will not be moved."

"No!" Another officer said shocked. "Doesn't his majesty understand the danger?! We can not allow the sovereign to stay!"

"Are you going to dare violate his wishes?" General Armstrong warned. "I assure you I will not give you any help, you go and tell his Majesty what to do if you have the balls? I assure you measures are being taken to assure his safe keeping despite his complaining, our duty is to the nation first. To be honest…I'm wondering what nation we may have left should Fuji fully explode. It pains me to ponder the reality of our situation of available real estate."

Some of the officers gave her shocking looks. "General? You're not thinking of violating the 9th article are you?"

"The one which forbids Japan the power of offensive warfare you mean?" Armstrong replied with her hands resting on the hilt of her sword. "I did say that our duty was to the nation… including her survival."

"Sir! Dear God are you even thinking of such a thing?! I know we're in desperate conditions but embarking on such warfare even in the course of survival? It's madness!"

"I've considered that carefully." Armstrong said. "But should we abandon all hope of a country just for the sake of refraining from the ability to ensure our national survival?"

An officer at the far end of the table pounded his fist . 'Damn you Kasuka! When the volcano is done with its wrath our people will have nothing! I for one will not sit by while our very soul is scattered to the winds far from the homeland, We have the power, I say we can't sit here and allow it to waste. We should over run those filthy North Korean vermin and take that land for our own people. No one would dare oppose us when we have the power capable of reducing any country to a smoking hole in the ground! No one!"

Armstrong banged her sword and stood up. "Arrest that bastard!"

Two soldiers who had been standing guard at the door leaped forwards to snatch the surprised General by his arms. "What?! Armstrong!"

"I knew it…you son of a bitch. Plotting a coup de etat, thought you could use this situation to your advantage? I've known of your plans for some time. You hoped I would think like you? Did you really think for a second that I would be so crazy as to take our country into a suicidal war for land? You maniac scum! Vermin faithless coward!"

Armstrong slapped the general hard in the face. "You can forget a trial." Armstrong grabbed the man's shoulder boards and ripped them off his uniform. "Take this scum outside and shoot him."

"NO!" The man protested as he was dragged from the room. "ARMSTRONG! YOU FILTHY BITCH! YOU'VE DOOMED OUR RACE! TO HELL WITH YOU….."

Armstrong straitened her dress coat. "Anyone else considering treason? Get up now and join that dumb bastard. I will not have treasonous cowards in my officer corps…."

"Bang!, Bang! Bang!"

"Have I made myself clear?"

**11:34pm**

**20 June 2013**

**Monitoring H.Q.**

**Gonosomaru**

"No…..no, no, no…." Atlas rubbed away the chalked up numbers on the floor and wrote other in their place. "That's too much Trintium!"

Mars snapped back. "No it's not! You have to reduce the Ferium weight by 22.020234 to the 4th power, that's what'll cause the Trintium to imbalance. Don't you know anything? Sheesh talk about sub-par brain power."

Astro butted in, wiping his foot across Mars's numbers. "You're both messed up. If you'd add some Nickel Vanadium alloy, it'll aid the roll over process…"

"Stay on your own part of the formula!" Mars snapped.

"Both of you stop acting stupid!" Atlas snarled. "And stop messing with my numbers!"

The result of the squabbling looked like some demented form of Twister as the three complaining bots ended up pretzel tied together covered in colored chalk dust and yelling in each others faces…till someone walked into the room.

"Uh?...you having a Rave or something?" The tall boy asked as he stood scratching his head.

"What the heck is this?!" Mars snapped as he struggled to free himself and was soon set upon the poor visitor pushing his finger into his chest. "Another knock off?! Your crazy creator had no shame! Who's this one? Tweedle Dufus II? He's even got a pair of stupid head bangs like Astro, oh I am so going to sue the heck out of you Astro!"

Atlas was equally surprised. "Yeah…where did this one come from? I thought your crazy sister was all?"

Astro walked up and rested his hand on the taller Astro looking robot's shoulder. "I….thought it was best to keep him from you till I felt more comfortable. This is my younger brother Cobalt."

"Younger?" Mars snorted. "He looks kinda 17."

"Doctor Tenma didn't finish him, long story." Astro replied.

"I'm the "less option" one in the family." Cobalt said as he passed a zip storage stick to Astro. "I don't have big brother's wiz bang gadgets but I have far more brains and storage than him."

Cobalt walked over to the chalky mess on the floor behind the three bots and started scribbling. "Annnnd…all three of you are messed up. How long did you guys sit and engineer this catastrophe?"

Astro smiled. "He's also less diplomatic. Tends to be a little abrasive."

"I'll abrasive him!" Mars snarled as he stomped up to Cobalt but was stopped by a finger shoved into his mouth.

"If you'd do more thinking and less complaining, things might get done." Cobalt said as he pushed Mars back. "Now go find something to do like paper dolls or something more your speed."

"Grrrr! Why you!" Atlas caught Mars by the waist and carried him out. "Let me go, I'll recycle him into a soda can! You big mouth, oversized, knock off copy…"

Astro stood with his hands behind his back patiently waiting till Atlas had left with his screaming bundle. "How's M.I.T.?" He asked as he walked up to Cobalt.

"Amazingly dull." Cobalt replied. "Atlas has mellowed out."

"Not completely." Astro said as he rubbed his head. "He still mistrusts humans but at least I'm not getting as many dents as I use too."

Cobalt rubbed his finger on the chalk covered floor. "I still feel upset about being kept away from home."

Astro sat and watched as Cobalt worked over the formula. "I couldn't help it. Atlas would have taken the advantage by kidnapping you and in the mindset he had five years ago? He wouldn't have had a second thought of ripping you apart just to get to me. I couldn't risk that, you can't defend yourself."

Cobalt waved a hand. "Sheesh big brother, such confidence."

"Cobalt." Astro replied. "Roller skates don't exactly cut it as a weapon."

"I don't use skates any more." Cobalt replied. "I use skate boards and snow boards, you should see me shred powder, I'm dangerous."

Astro smirked. "There's no snow here."

"Ash will work just as well." Cobalt replied.

Astro looked downwards and pointed with a contorted face. "Uh…"

Cobalt looked down to see that instead of something looking like a mathematical formula, he'd drawn what looked like a nearly nude Cleopatra with a blue M.I.T. fraternity flag covering the modest parts….

"Oops! (giggles) shows where my mind had been in college. (more embarrassing giggles) sorry."

Cobalt rubbed the drawing out while Astro laughed himself silly and rolled around getting chalk all over himself. "Ugh….I can't believe you drew that! Here we are facing a real dangerous situation and you did that?!"

"Hey…a little levity helps, I mean you three sat around for how many hours and you couldn't get anything done even with thousands of robots sending you stuff? Really impressive there big brother…and a Predator drone? Man your choice of girls is dumb."

"What?!" Astro snapped. "I'm dumb?! You fell in love with a Mack truck, explain that one Captain dorkstein!"

"She…had wonderful looking wheels." Cobalt replied seriously. "I love things with wheels you know."

"So? Don't go knocking Becky!" Astro snorted.

"Touchy are we not?" Cobalt replied as he went back to work on the equations. Astro softened and draped an arm over Colbalt's shoulders…

"I really am happy to have you home. I missed you." Astro said softly.

"You gave Sis my room." Cobalt snorted back. "We're gonna fight."

"Just don't blow up the Doctor's house….please?" Astro pleaded.

Atlas and Mars walked in and snorted at the other two bots.

"They're goofing off!" Mars snapped.

"Or doing something perverted." Atlas huffed. "So this is your egg head little brother? I'm wildly impressed."

Cobalt ignored the snide comment and worked quietly over the formula till he had it redrawn. He beckoned Atlas and Mars to sit, Mars giving him a most displeasing scowl as he closely and rudely gave Cobalt the look over…"Cheep imitation…."

"Slap!" Atlas back handed Mars off the head. "Stop being such a brat!"

"I can't help it! Is there no shame! Jeese look at his legs, totally out of body proportion, what did Tenma do, design you with a blind fold?" Mars snorted.

Cobalt calmly reached out and rubbed Mars's head. "I heard what you did to that bridge. You're very clever." Cobalt watched as Mars melted…

"Well…" mars replied smiling. "I know engineering…I'm actually very good when I get the chance to do things…"

Atlas sighed. "Oh great, now he won't shut up."

Astro waved his hands. "Let's not get into another dumb fight please?"

Cobalt sat up and pointed to the formula. "All three of you were close actually, except you left out the one thing that was right in your hands."

"What? Chalk?" Mars asked.

"Not just chalk." Cobalt replied. "Calcium sulfate. You add 14.617 grams to the core purification process per desired megaton or half it for the desired kiloton. That's the key to the yield dialing process. It'll stabilize the reversal process and bingo…we have deep space on Earth."

The other three bots gave Cobalt blank looks.

"What?" Cobalt asked.

"You suck." Atlas huffed.

"Show off!" Mars said smirking

"He's never had a wedgie?" Astro said pointing.

Cobalt started to back up as the other three looked at him evilly…"Now guys? Guys? We ugh….we have a dangerous volcano out there and…"

"It can wait." Astro said smirking evilly.

"Big brother, I'll scream…." Cobalt pointed. "Cut it out guys!"

"Does it look like we care?" Atlas said grinning.

"Guys! The world's in danger!" Cobalt was panicking.

"We got time…oh you're so dead." Mars snorted happily.

"AAAAAAAAH!" The scream was loud enough to blow out the windows and cause everyone in the compound to freeze and grit their teeth.

End of chapter 8


	9. Chapter 9

**4am**

**21 June 2013**

**Monitoring H.Q.**

**Gonosomaru**

"So that's it. It will take about 36 hours to produce the amount of material you need. At least to cover the dimensions that Astro specified…and those aren't firm, only estimates of the magma chamber's side." Cobalt said as he finished showing Cornelius and Zira the finished calculations on the lap top.

Cornelius sat rubbing hip lips. "The enrichment facility in Hiroshima. transportation… finding the right place to set the device…build the warhead…"

"The ingredients." Zira replied. "It will take some time to gather and precisely measure the mix."

"Rough estimate?" Cobalt said tapping a foot. "Ten days…five if you go round the clock and with this? Unfortunately you humans have boxed yourselves into a dilemma. You can't use robots."

Astro and Atlas threw Cobalt doubting looks. "Come again?"

"You can't. Under the terms of the UN conventions governing weapons and sentient robots…like it or not that's what this is. We can't have any "hand" in production."

"You're serious?" Atlas snorted. "We're using this thing to stop a volcano."

"If it backfires, it could destroy more than the volcano. Trust me, I heard plenty of arguing at M.I.T. over this. The Humans have the authority, they did the right thing by fussing over it and they came to an agreement. And don't go saying we can reverse it because as we all know.. pardon my mouth, humans take months to decide if the chicken had too much garlic in it. They'll still be "bitching", their will be no device and everyone will be screwed."

Cobalt turned to Cornelius. "You better start making like a gazelle and start running."

The scientists didn't need more prompting, they both got up and almost got into a fist fight over who'd go out the door first!

Astro was shaking his head in bewilderment. "I can't believe we can't do anything to help them out. Are you sure Cobalt?"

"Trust me." Cobalt replied. "I ran it over in my brain like a thousand times to find a loop hole. The one thing we can do is find the best location to set the device."

Mars stumbled into the room, curiously still "half asleep", the best description you'd call it when a robot was warming up from a shut-down period. He even forgot that he still had a stuffed animal tucked under his arm, which enlisted a giggle from a smirky pointing Atlas.

Mars walked up to Cobalt and snatched him by the wrist. "I wanna talk to you."

"Nice bed buddy." Atlas snickered at the stuffed animal as Mars walked by dragging Cobalt with him.

"Go drill yourself." Mars replied sleepishly.

When he felt they were alone, Mars looked at his stuffed animal and put it behind his back as he bobbed up and down on his toes. "Hey?...We're you pulling my leg when you said that nice thing about me yesterday or were you serious?"

Cobalt smiled. "Absolutely serious. If I can be honest? You're starving for attention."

Mars found a place to sit down. "You can tell?

"Who can't?" Cobalt replied. "It's obvious you're jealous…and?...you're overly sheltered."

"Well it's not fair." Mars snorted. "I don't get to do a lot on my own that much…this is the first time I've been on my own more than a day away from my creator…well one of em actually. And STILL I don't get noticed! That dumb Astro get's noticed all the time!"

Cobalt shook his head. "I'll say one thing for you…you're certainly more human like than he is. You don't think my big brother does anything for a scrap book do you? Honestly?"

Mars pursed his lips. "Well it is cool isn't it?"

"Astro would probably blow a fit if you said he liked to be in the papers every day." Cobalt said as he sat next to Mars. "Trust me, I couldn't run away fast enough from the news people who thought I was Astro. Would you believe he blew off Justin Beaver?"

"What?" Mars replied shocked. "Uh uh!"

"Wanted to make a movie with him as Astro…big brother told him to go "blow it" and I mean he told him to "blow it". Trust me, people start throwing your name in the newspapers and gets very difficult. But even you should know that we're not here to make a headline splash."

Mars looked down at the floor. "You must think I'm a jerk."

"No!" Cobalt replied. "No…you're just as I said you were but you shouldn't be trying to get yourself "noticed". Astro does what he does because that's what we've all been built to do, craving we get our faces plastered all over TIME magazine makes us more dangerous and we could end up causing harm to humans instead of protecting them."

Cobalt wrapped an arm around Mars's shoulders. "Being envious and jealous are even more dangerous. Don't keep trying to be someone you're not. You might find that it's not being flashy that gets you noticed…it's being yourself. You're very cleaver Mars. Use it."

Mars smirked. "This coming from someone I wedgied."

Cobalt smirked back. "Like it really did anything?"

Atlas walked up and snatched both of them by their arms. "You two come right now, we have a big problem to deal with."

Mars and Cobalt joined Atlas and Astro in the monitoring office where Harry Dalton, Stan Hung and Greg Heslov stood around Reno's computer.

"That measure you boys took a few days ago has helped up this point. At least the populations that could have been affected by the unstable flank have been cleared out. Of course it wasn't a permanent solution."

Harry pointed a finger over the screen. "Your little friend Becky has been detecting a growth above the affected slab that's been expanding…at first we didn't notice it because the changes were subtle but now they're starting to get more prominent. This is what caused the 1709 sideways eruption of the Hoei Crater."

Atlas crossed his arms. "Between Me, Astro and Mars we could throw a few more pilings and try to stabilize the slab again. Buy some more time."

"It might not be worth it." Astro replied. "If there's an eruption near there, the slab might go no matter what we try to do. And since the population in the danger zone's been cleared out, it would seem sort of pointless don't you think?'

Stan Hung tapped his chin. "No…not if you want to prevent a larger vent eruption. Imagine we get a vent release and that slab slides? Like opening a water spigot….the more you allow through a hole, the greater the volume."

Cobalt looked at Astro. "In that case…why are you guys sitting like rocks? I don't see a Play Station hooked up to this computer?"

"Another chance to pass Mars up?" Atlas snickered. "I'm gain."

"You all understand that an eruption from there will shorten our time?" Zira Shaffer said as she walked up. "The enrichment plant has accepted the order from the Government and the estimated time to a working devise has not changed. A new eruption will certainly bring us within a hair to the point of no return."

Reno looked back at Astro. "And you'll still standing there why?"

Astro bolted for the office door with Atlas and Mars hot behind him. "We're gonna have to make a choice again if it comes to it Atlas!" Astro yelled as they went airborne.

"Another release?" Atlas asked. "Super risky given the slope!"

Mars waved a hand around. "If we throw another 300 pillars into the flank, that's 100 for each of us…back and forth about three hours a piece…I have an arm cannon, let me watch over the hot spot, you guys handle the pillars."

Atlas pursed his lips. "You'll have to figure the size of the outlet! Too big and we risk opening the whole smack, too small and it'll act like a hydro-blaster and bore itself a bigger hole!"

It was a little after 5am when the three bots flew over the northwest slope of Fuji. Atlas looked around and pointed about…"She's doing a nice job isn't she?"

"Huh?" Astro replied. "Epsilon? Has she been out here since we got here?"

"Hasn't left." Atlas replied. "Give me a few minutes?"

"Don't mess her up." Astro warned with a smirk.

Atlas threw a hand gesture and flew up to 80,000 feet where Epsilon was hovering. Detouring weather systems around Fuji not only took a great deal of energy output, which Epsilon took from the sunlight that replenished her HARRP abilities, but total unobstructed concentration.

"Hey gorgeous!" Atlas said as he floated around the still and entranced form before him. The whole arrangement sort of sucked given he couldn't touch her, couldn't cuddle her and couldn't kiss her. If he tried, he'd glow pretty bright before he exploded from the power surge.

"Everything's fine so far. Mars is a pain in my ass. Astro's just a pain period. Not having you at the end of the day to blow off my steam is making me crazy." Atlas waited for a reply then huffed…"Oh yeah…can't speak back."

Atlas floated behind Epsilon and whispered in her ear. "Hey…I know this is kinda sudden but… Marry me."

Atlas floated in front. "Yeah! Sorry…no ring, flowers or a dinner but since you're working I thought I could practice…will you?...will you…..marry me?"

Atlas floated slowly around her. "I know…I know….you'll probably be a little shocked, maybe you'll have some doubts? But can you really refuse me when I'm so cuddly cute?"

Atlas floated from behind Epsilon to find Astro and Mars looking at him like they took a cannon ball to their stomach….well….sort of like stomachs.

"Huh?" Atlas said as he contorted his face. "What?! You don't think it would look nice? I mean me in a black tux and Epsilon in a really sweet white gown, what do you think?"

Mars cocked his head. "Totally un-proportioned."

"You're serious?" Astro asked.

"Oh come on!" Atlas snapped. "I can't love anybody?! Just because some people think I'm a creep doesn't mean I can't fall in love you know! She's perfect!"

"And you're a dufus!" Mars snapped. "If I were her? I'd stock up on rolling pins to keep you in line."

Atlas floated by Mars. "I bet I can prove you wrong."

Astro was all glowing. "Is this it?! I mean are you going to stop all this crazy stuff you do? You're going to have a normal life?!"

Atlas pushed a finger into Astro's nose with a smirk. "I wouldn't cancel your accounts at MACCO just yet pussy foot. All I'm saying is that with Epsilon, I will be just a little bit easier to deal with."

Mars tapped Atlas on the shoulder. "Well stop the wedding planning for now Prince Charming…I think the mountain's not going to wait on an invitation?

End of Chapter 9


	10. Chapter 10

**6am**

**21 June 2013**

**NHK SPECIAL REPORT**

(NHK NEWS LOGO and CHIME)

Announcer: And now…NHK Special Report, from our studio in Fukuoka, Miss Kazako Uki.

Kazuko: Good Morning, here is an update on the situation at Mount Fuji. The media co-ordination official, Steve Martin, updated the international press on a new situation currently underway on Mount Fuji's northeast flank. Efforts are underway to stabilize a large portion of this flank which is weak and could be certain to collapse. Scientists predict that if this event were to happen, it may initiate an explosion similar to the 1980 eruption of Mount Saint Hellens in the United States, which would gravely worsen the current conditions in the volcanic region. We now go to Senji Ogata in Gonosomaru-Ken.

Senji: Kazuko…at this moment there are three robots working to bring stability to that weakened section of the northeast flank. These are two powerful robots from Metro Rhinken who are joined by another of similar design from Osaka-Cho. At the moment they are in effect sinking into the ground concrete and steel columns, similar to the highway light post I am standing next too. Can you imagine this? This is a 45 foot steel and concrete pole weighting over 10,000 pounds and these robots are hurling just one of these at an astonishing 300 miles per hour, enough to sink them almost to the top. The plan is to sink enough of these to hold the sliding portion in place. At the same time scientists are worried about a growing pressure bulge on the same side and they admit they may have to allow these robots to drill into this bulge and relieve the growing pressure under it. Back to you Kazuko.

Kazuko: We are joined by the emanate Professor and former dean of Tokyo University, Doctor Aramaki. Doctor, isn't this dangerous on both accounts?

Doctor Aramaki: Yes but had we not been fortunate to have these robots working with us, it is certain we would face a much greater catastrophe. It was a slide like the one we are trying to avoid that made the 1709 Hoei eruption of Mount Fuji and the 1980 Mount Saint Hellens blast so catastrophic. If we don't prevent the loss of this slope and we have a second eruption at that moment? The ground could simply tear open which would greatly accelerate the super volcanos move towards a devastating super-eruption.

**6:15am**

**21 June 2013**

**Fuji's Northeast Slope**

Astro screamed down from 50,000 feet, whipped the column with his arms and rolled end over end to a stop to watch the screaming post break the sound barrier and slam into the ground below with a jet of dirt flying up around it!

"Ok Becky! Any change in the others?" He asked as Atlas streaked by him with another post.

"So far their angles have stayed steady." Becky replied as she slowly orbited above. "One of you need to check on Mars…he's just hovering around the bulge site and he looks a little confused."

Atlas came flying back to Astro's side. "You keep throwing the poles, I'll check on Mars."

Mars looked like he was just floating still, his hands on his hips, his head turned down, his lips rubbing around his face in a quandary as Atlas flew up and floated beside him.

"Don't explode." He said being sarcastic.

"Shut up and don't bother me." Mars replied as he kept looking down. "It's not easy juggling all these figures in my head and calculating a shot when things are changing like every four seconds you know."

Atlas floated to the front and looked up at Mars's face. "You don't want any help?"

"I can do it on my own! Sheesh, I'm not in grade school. If this were solid rock it would be an easier solution to work out. Just don't distract me?!"

Atlas shrugged and flew back to Astro as Mars made circles around the bulge spot. "he said he'll handle it." Atlas said as he flew past Astro and went to grab another column.

"You sure?" Astro asked curiously.

"We don't have time to start going back and forth with each other, just leave him alone and he'll figure it out." Atlas replied. When Astro didn't react, Atlas grabbed him by a hand. "Will you come on!"

Mars looked back at the other two and switch his radio so they couldn't hear him. "Cobalt? What you doing now?"

Back at the monitoring office, Cobalt was tracing a finger over Terry's computer figuring new spots for additional monitoring gear. "Playing Tic Tac Toe."

Mars voice came back…"I'm stuck."

Cobalt excused himself and walked outside the office. "Ok…that's quick. My brother takes like forever to admit he's lost."

"I'm not lost! Just that things keep changing and I can't figure out how big to make this hole…I'm afraid I'll screw it up."

"Well…." Cobalt said as he leaned against a wall. "Don't be afraid to ask for a little help. That's the one weakness between Astro and Atlas, they both like to be self-sufficient and it takes a major screw up to hear even a beep from them."

Wait a second?" Mars asked. "Atlas? I thought Astro kept him from knowing who you were?"

Cobalt stopped to look at his fingers. "That's…a detail Astro doesn't need to know ok? I'll be honest, Atlas is all bluster outside but he's a big cry baby actually. I'm not boastful but Atlas wouldn't have gotten this far without some extra help."

Mars looked back at Atlas and Astro again. "Oh…ok…I want some help."

Cobalt replied with a smile. "Ok…send what you have. Call Becky and ask her to run a triple series geometrical survey and send the results to me."

"Got it!" Cobalt replied confidently as he looked up. "You copy that Becky?"

"Already working on it." The Predator drone replied.

Cobalt walked back into the trailer and found Nancy at a desk with two other Japanese scientists looking over topography maps. "Can I see you real quick?" he asked her.

"Sure, what's on your mind?" Nacy replied as she followed Cobalt to a corner.

"You're a geologist right? If I gave you what a mineral was and how thick it was could you figure out what the melting point under heat could be?" Cobalt asked.

"Yeah. Why?" Nancy replied.

"I need to design a smoke stack." Cobalt replied before he walked off.

"A smoke stack? Where?" Nancy replied bewildered.

**8:37 am**

**21 June 2013**

**Fuji's Northeast flank**

Astro and Atlas finished burying another 300 columns and stood with Mars listening to Cobalt machine gun facts and figures through their heads…

"Wait! Do what?" Atlas said as he rubbed a hand through his hair. "We're going to make a chimney?"

Astro pursed his lips. "As humans would ask….what…have you been smoking Cobalt?"

"A few chips." Cobalt replied. "I know this is unorthodox but bear with me ok? Unlike the vent you opened over at Komotake City, this one's a problem because of the volcanic materials involved. There's a bright side to that though…we're going to make a cast iron chimney."

Mars looked around. "With what?"

"The ground at your feet." Cobalt replied. "You see…when a sword maker in Japan crafts a Katana, he starts with an ingot of iron that's made from volcanic minerals, what they call black slate. There's only two places where you can get black slate minerals…Iga-dake on the Iga peninsula and Mount Fuji."

Astro scooped up some volcanic dirt at his feet. "Ok…so if that's true, how are we going to turn this stuff into a chimney?'

Cobalt was sitting with Nancy as they double checked the figures they had scattered about her desk. "It's going to be a little complicated. Two of you are going to have to use your arm cannons to melt and join the minerals, the third will have to use his to heat treat it once it solidifies to make sure it's stable enough to take the force of the volcanic blast when you "pop the cork."

Nancy chimed in. "We're dealing with multiple thicknesses, multiple densities, multiple property mixtures…it's going to take some quick modifications in heat input and timing."

Atlas looked at Astro. "I sort of suck at math."

Astro smirked. "You won't have to do any figuring on this one."

"I'll heat treat it." Mars said waving his hand. "I don't think my arm cannon's as strong as you guys."

Cobalt's voice chimed. "The heat treat step is the most important. Mars if you're going to do it? You have to listen to what I tell you, exactly."

Mars nodded sternly. "I'm ready for it!

"Astro, Atlas? I'm sending you the formula's you'll need to follow. Becky? You'll have to monitor the temperatures from low altitude, these two can't do that since they're going to be occupied. I'm sending you the figures now."

Becky dropped her altitude and passed about a hundred feet above Astro's head. "I have it all now. I'll tell you when you reach the optimum temperature."

Atlas popped up his arm and morphed it into his arm cannon. "Got the formula. I just hope you remember that I'm lousy at math."

"You're lousy in just about everything." Astro replied smirking as he morphed his own arm. "Are we all ready?"

Mars pretended to yawn. "We will be when you stop being a drama queen."

"FIRE IT UP!" Astro screamed as he and Atlas lowered their arms and let loose two solid blasts of undulating colored lasers into the ground under them! Both of them began to circle around each other in the air as they did when they opened the last vent but this time instead of drilling their way through the ground, they started to turn the different minerals from their solid forms to a molten state.

"This is complex!" Atlas snorted. "You are going to tell us we're messing things up right?" He said as he looked up at Becky.

"Trust me." She replied. "If you screw this up, it probably won't matter and you'll probably not know it….till the ash comes screaming towards your face."

"Just keep your attention on the formula please?" Astro called. "What do you think so far Cobalt?"

Back at the monitoring HQ, Cobalt and Nancy were watching intently at the thermal images being sent by Becky.

"Astro…boost your output up 200 volts and 150 Amps. Atlas…boost yours 200 volts for 30 seconds…Mars, start your arm cannon up at 100 volts, 100 amps and start rotating around the melt…30 revolutions a minute."

Astro chuckled. "If you play Swan Lake, I bet this would make a cool You Tube video."

"Swan Lake?" Atlas snorted. "Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon. Ever seen that played to the Wizard of Oz movie? It's hilarious!"

"Who's Pink Floyd?" Mars asked.

"Oops…forgot." Astro said smirking. "He still listens to Barney the Dinosaur."

"Oh go shove it!" Mars snapped.

Nancy was laughing despite the seriousness of the situation. "How do they keep from strangling each other?

Cobalt shook his head. "It's nothing. Like three seagulls screaming over a bread crumb, they play off each other trying to look bigger and badder but no one gets hurt."

30 Minutes later…

Astro and Atlas lay on their backs watching Mars as he continued to use his arm cannon to set the makeshift iron "chimney" in place.

"Not bad." Atlas said as he patted his chest. "I thought you said your arm cannon wasn't a big deal?"

"Well it can't blow stuff to bits like yours." Mars replied as he stopped flying and slowly walked in a circle around the raised lip of the iron chimney. "I'd say another 30 minutes or so this should be ready to try."

Astro looked over at Atlas. "You want me to uncork this one?"

"Go ahead." Atlas replied. "I'm all tapped out."

"Hold on guys." Cobalt said over the radio. "Don't blow it all at one time. When you dig down to the magma chamber? Try to shape it like a funnel."

Astro pursed his lips. "That's a little tricky."

"It's a necessity." Cobalt replied. "If you try to uncork the whole thing at once, you'll have an uncontrolled burst. With the funnel, the blast will slowly eat its way out to the walls of the chimney. Just gives a little extra cushion."

Astro looked at Atlas and Mars.

"He's the smart one right?" Atlas smirked.

"See if I invite you to my next birthday party." Astro snorted as he jumped into the air and hovered over the chimney. "All right…here goes the fire works."

End of chapter 10


	11. Chapter 11

**9:07 am**

**21 June 2013**

**Fuji's Northeast flank**

Astro unleashed his arm cannon shot and jumped back as a rushing column of ash came streaming up through the improvised chimney and slowly widened the funnel shape Astro had cut through the ground until it took up the full chimney interior.

"It worked." Astro said as he landed next to Atlas and Mars.

"Yeah…" Mars replied with a smile. "We're pretty good together don't you think?"

Atlas smirked. 'When you're not bitching every five minutes."

"I'm not the one who…" Mars snapped back.

Astro got between them. "Would you mind not antagonizing him?" He asked Atlas. "And really Atlas…you're like twice as "bitchy" and don't say you're not."

Cobalt came over the radio. "Nice job guys but if you're not too busy you might want to come back here and help us pack out. We have to shift the station because the ash from the vent is going to sail right over our heads."

Astro nodded back. "We'll be there in a few minutes."

**9:20 am**

**21 June 2013**

**Nagoya City**

Zoran had enough time to pack a suitcase and grab a favorite stuffed animal before she was tossed into Kenichi kennedy's family van and sent with them out of Metro City. Kenichi, his mother, Tamao and his parents all spilled out as the van came to a stop at a gas station.

"You getting out?" Ken asked Zoran as she sat bouncing the stuffed animal off a knee.

"Not like I need a bathroom." She replied.

"Has Astro told you anything?" Ken asked as he cimbed back into the van and leaned on the back of a seat.

"Just says he's doing ok, don't worry, I'll call you when I'm not too busy, Make sure I know where you're going….typical big brother stuff."

Tamao climbed into the van and sat next to Ken. 'So where are we going again?"

"My grandparents place in Ayo-Mima. It's up in the south mountains…kinda small village. It's like as far from civilization as you get."

Tamao frowned. "Please don't tell me there's no Shaky's Pizza there."

Ken looked back smirking. "Worse…there's not even a Circle K store."

Tamao threw his hands out. "Well that sucks! I'll go crazy! I can't survive without any Facebook…no Twitter? No video games? What kind of life is that gonna be?!"

"Look at the bright side." Ken replied. "You'll learn how to do real work for once."

"Shut up." Tamao snorted as he pushed Ken and climbed out of the van.

Zoran looked at Ken. "Are you worried about big brother?"

"Me?" Ken replied waving, "Oh heck no…no….well I guess in a way I am but you know he always takes good care of himself. I know who you think about though."

Zoran frowned a little. "I'm not in love with Atlas! Why does everyone think I even…well I like him because he's cool…well…he's cooler than Astro…he's cool looking…"

Ken giggled. "You don't have to hide what you really think…"

"Oh cut it out!" Zoran snapped as she jumped up and pummeled Ken with her stuffed animal.

**10:50 am**

**21 June 2013**

**National Highway towards Asahiniru-chu**

**30 miles West of Gonosomaru**

Astro, Atlas and Mars were huddled in a van with Harry Dalton and Doctor O'Shay as the column of vans and trucks rolled towards Asahimiru. The three bots sat quietly with their eyes closed, their brains humming as they crunched numbers and date between them…

"Ten days." Atlas said as he opened his eyes.

"Nope….8." Mars said as he opened his eyes.

"Astro went on a little longer till he opened his eyes. "I'll go with 9."

Doctor O'Shay sighed. "So roughly a week. That's if we don't have any further eruptions of vents along the way. "Cornelius informed me that the device may be available in seven days. Talk about shaving hairs."

"Doing what you three have done is so far keeping the situation managed. I admit my doubts that you could keep up with it." Harry said as he was driving.

"You doubted?" Atlas said confidently. "We've just been improvising. Trust me. I didn't think we could keep it in control so far."

"But it's going to depend on the mountain itself." Astro said as he popped a can of oil open. "If we had a bulge on the flank? that means the pressure is going out from the main vent. I don't think this is going to be the only vent on the slopes we have to worry about."

"It also depends on the weather." Harry said as he turned off the highway. "How long can your friend Epsilon keep the weather diverted around the mountain?"

"Almost indefinitely so long as she keeps getting sunlight where she's at." Atlas replied almost confidently. She has an altitude limit as well as a power exhaustion rate. The worse the weather, the more power she gives off. We're lucky so far that we're not dealing with a Typhoon or things would get interesting fast."

"So right now…all we are." Mars said as he threw a finger back between him and the other two bots. "Is a bunch of glorified pimple poppers."

Atlas snickered. "Aptly spoken."

**11:10am**

**21 June 2013**

**NBC NEWS SPECIAL REPORT **

**Brian Williams live in Asahiniru-chu**

Announcer: This is an NBC SPECIAL REPORT. Reporting from Asahimiru, Japan here is Brian Williams.

Brian Williams: Salutations for your respective time zone, we are here on the ground North West of the ever changing situation with Mount Fuji, it was an interesting journey to get here, that being the most tempered description I can offer to what is a growing and rapidly changing situation with global implications. The collection of scientists monitoring this situation were forced to move their monitoring base to this old castle complex here in Ashimiru and joining me now is the spokesman and a close colleague of mine Mister Steve Martin of United World News, Steve tell us of this latest news which I'm sure most people would find near Science Fiction but has become hard fact.

Steve Martin: Two things Brian, As you know here in Japan the advance of robots in this society has been remarkable, they've been instrumental in the monumental evacuations that have been underway the past few days. They have also been doing something that some would never believe, they have carefully managed the eruptive progress of the volcano. At the same time we have scientists working on a device which will hopefully hold the progress Fuji is taking towards a full super eruption.

Brian Williams: Is that possible?

Steve Martin: There is a theory towards a practical device Brian, which is why the robots are doing their best to manage the volcano's activity. We hope they can buy us the time we need until the device is ready. Unfortunately there can't be any testing save by computer which means we'll all have to turn to the old fashion method of faith.

Brian Williams: Thank you Steve. Let's turn now to Jim Nickleshefski at the Pentagon with new information for us regarding China. Jim?

Jim Nickleshefski: Brian about an hour ago the Chinese Minister of Defense, Yun Yao Shen announced that the Chinese port of Jang Pao and the nearby province of Shen-Chu would be open as temporary evacuation sites for Japanese citizens fleeing the Fuji situation. The Chinese ambassador also in a meeting with the President has stated that US warships involved in humanitarian efforts would be allowed to use the port facility on a case by case basis so long as Chinese observers would be allowed on board to monitor the process.

Here at home, the government has issued what it calls "Preparatory Alerts" to state governors which will allow those states to deploy their state militias and National Guards to keep and maintain order in the event the situation in Japan turns catastrophic. The President is currently meeting at the White House with his joint National Security team and he will make some sort of statement to the nation, perhaps tonight, on what the Governments plan of action and expectations will be should Mount Fuji's super eruption occur Brian.

Brian Williams: Thank you Jim Nickeshefski at the Pentagon. Here with me now, and I've been told he was put up to this by some of his fellow robots because they felt he was best to speak about all this is perhaps Japan's best known robot, Tetsuwan Atom, but you like going by Astro.

Mars: Actually he goes by "dufus" but we'll forgive him!

Scene: Astro turns red.

Brian Williams: You keep yourself in good company I see.

Astro: That's what they think of themselves anyway.

Brian Williams: I am sure that the gravity of this situation is understood by robots by a basic view of logic, given that you must hear and know what the multitude of them are thinking Astro? Give us a sense of how they "feel".

Astro: Worried. We all realize how dangerous this is for humans and we can't exist without them. Every living thing here is being threatened and we robots take our programming seriously. It's not just the humans but the whole planet that's threatened.

Brian Williams: There are of course rumors and conspiracies floating around and have been around for quite a long time that robots would use a situation such as this to take over the world, is that even remotely true?

Scene: Astro looks over at Atlas and Mars.

Astro: Let me ask this? If it came to the point that human civilization was so threatened with destruction by any means? Wouldn't some of you be on your knees begging for a last chance to live? In that case…if it got that extreme? Yes. Yes we would take over and we have the power to do that.

Atlas: Shit.

Mars looks around himself: Yeah...I kinda agree.

Brian Williams: You're obviously not kidding Astro.

Astro: No. If it comes to that? We robots have the ability to control every weapon, every bomb, every missile, every computer, every radio, every television, every power station…in short? We can take control of a whole society in a second. That's everywhere around the world.

Brian Williams: You understand what you're saying?

Astro: And let me be clear…we don't want it to come to that and we're doing everything we can to keep it from getting to that point. I felt we couldn't keep this quiet any more because all of you humans have to understand the absolute seriousness of what you're facing. We robots will not allow the human race to be annihilated, not by your hands, not by any hands and we are doing everything we can to save all of you. You are all precious to us and it's not because of our programming.

Brian Williams: Let us all hope it doesn't come to that Astro.

**11:40am**

**21 June 2013**

**Asahiniru-chu Castle**

Astro, Mars and Atlas were standing together in a line cringing and shrugging from the angry motions and words of Doctor O'Shay…

"In Astro's defense there Doc?" Atlas tried to say.

"You keep your mouth shut till I tell you to speak!" O'Shay snapped. "I can't believe this! How could you Astro?! You kept this from me? From me! Perhaps I can understand you'd keep it from Reno or your other friends but from me? You don't trust me?"

"Trust is not the question." Astro replied. "I knew what your reaction would have been Doctor. Totally understandable given how humans have viewed our kind."

Atlas suddenly gleamed. "Oh my God! Did you hear that?! He's a robot after all!"

"Shut up…shut it before I turn you into a soup can Atlas." O'Shay warned. "Who made you the leader of all this?"

Mars huffed. "Yup…knew that was coming."

O'Shay gave Mars a warning finger.

"I did." Astro suddenly and confidently replied. "Actually it was sort of Democratic I guess but I gave Atlas a slap off his head and told him to shut up."

O'Shay looked at Atlas.

"Yeah….I'm his bitch." Atlas said shrugging.

O'Shay slapped his head. "Astro…you know how dangerous this can be and at a time like this? You know how countries are going to see this…"

"They know what will happen if they dare try to do anything stupid, which will keep them honest." Astro replied. "As I said doctor, this is only an option of last resort and I'm the only one who can make the decision, which is why I'm ready to explain everything."

"Well you better be ready." O'Shay replied. "I don't think there's a cushion soft enough to bring any comfort to that behind of yours after this little P.R. mess."

Mars leaned back and smirked. "Not like he had anything back there to start with."

**12:30pm**

**21 June 2013**

**Asahiniru-chu Castle**

**News Conference**

Astro walked up to the podium in front of all the reporters, which at first was silly as the only thing they saw until a box was brought out for him to stand on was the top of his head and a wiggling "hair bang"

Astro: Thanks. I could have telescoped my head but I think that would have been a little weird. I know my words to Mister Williams about an hour ago caused unintended trouble, I'm well aware of the seriousness and I'm sorry I was a little more than blunt.

First I want to assure all of you, this is to all humans, that we are not conspiring to take over the world. There's no death machines, terminators, Darleks, General Grevises, Cylons, Alex 7000's,Kill dozers, Clown faced big rigs, SOL battle satellites, Zargothian death cruisers, or other mechanical troops of doom running all over the place and no…I don't own a death star.

Bender from Futurama: I do have a big shiny metal ass!

Astro: (Face palm) Please Bender?

Bender from Futurama: What?! Just telling the truth.

Astro: Besides that…yes, I was absolutely true about our ability as robots to take total control of everything on this planet. I was also being truthful in saying that it is the last resort if it comes to assuring the survival of the human race. We robots will do everything we can to ensure that humans will continue. It's part of every robot's programming and it's taken by every robot not only as logic but how we process our feelings towards those who gave us life.

I am the only robot who can order this extreme measure. My fellow robots made it this way because they know me. They know what I can do if they decide otherwise, they also chose me because they know my relationship with you. I want you all to know that we will do everything, everything we can to not get to this extreme measure. If you can help us in any way, no matter how small it is, please don't keep it to yourself.

And if you pray? Send that too, we can use that as well. I want you to know that as much as you can understand it? I love you humans a hole bunch and if I have to throw my life away so all of you can live? I'll do it without a thought. One way or another…I will protect you and my fellow robots will protect you.

Thank you.

End of chapter 11


	12. Chapter 12

**12:50pm**

**21 June 2013**

**Asahiniru-chu Castle**

**Newly established monitoring office**

Astro walked into the room only to have Reno fall at his feet and bow with his outstretched hands over and over. "Oh Exhausted Grand Imperial Poo-Bear! Oh solvent of the four farts…"

"Cut it out Reno! Sheesh, I was being absolutely serious and you think it's all a big joke?" Astro snorted.

"Well shoot, you just about made yourself emperor of the Earth, someone has to make fun of it all. And all those hoaky Sci Fi references…Kill Dozer? I thought you had a better taste in movies!" Reno said snorting.

"This coming from someone who watched "Day of the Trifids" like 20 times?" Astro replied sarcastically.

Stan Hung walked up. "You can really do that? Take over everything?"

"I'm not going to give you a demonstration if that's what you'd like Stan. In fact? I'm over due for a nap at least." Astro said shaking his head.

"A nap?" Stan asked.

"Hey even machines have to have some sort of pause time like you humans have sleep. We can't always go 24/7 all the time or things start smelling like burning plastic and fried oil." Astro looked at Reno. "Is there a place to sleep here?"

"There's some rooms above but you need to be careful since this is a museum." Reno replied with a thumb point. "I'll wake you if something comes up."

"As always something will." Astro replied. He turned to Mars and Atlas. "What about you guys?"

"I can go a few more hours." Atlas said as he stretched his arms out. "I want to talk with Rocky the Flying Squirrel." He called Reno.

"I'm gain for a snooze." Mars said as he started walking. Soon him and Astro were scoping out the upper floors of the castle. "Hey Astro?" Mars asked as Astro found a room and slipped through the sliding shoji door.

"Yeah?" Astro replied as he sat to pull his boots off.

Mars sat on the jute matted floor. "I'm curious…you're like" super pimped" out. Me I just have these arm cannons and they're not close to half what you can do. You got laser fingers, butt guns…"

Astro raised a finger. "Hip guns….they're hip guns….never mind."

"Well you're a walking wrecking machine any way…and I never hardly hear of you really using any of it! If I had to deal with a bad guy I'd be all like "Kapow! Take that! Kapow bad guy!"…." Mars could see Astro wasn't taking a joke. "You're not that kind of robot huh?"

"I thought that would be sort of obvious?" Astro said as he lay on his back. "I'm not Superman with the big red cape, flashy costume and dashing public image. I think the last think I want anyone to see is me blowing up a city block to flush a gunman from his hide out. Even when Atlas and I got into those crazy knock down fights I relied more on martial arts than brute force and Atlas was so frustrated by it that it became a good advantage."

Mars laid on his back and tapped his chest. "I just think it's kinda useless to have all these tricks if you never use them…takes up space."

Astro rolled onto his side. "It's not "use" that matters Mars…not so much as "when". It's the image factor…I don't really like to be seen like some crazy walking "Swiss Army knife". I actually have people asking me to do tricks with my weapons, can you believe that?!"

Astro sat up. "Yeah! There was this one time I'm at a playground getting ready to play soccer with Ken and this guy walks up and asks me if I could write his name in bullets! Can you imagine the look I gave him?"

Mars chuckled. "That must have been classic."

"Yeah! I actually used my first real curse word, someone went so far as to make me break my own speech setting…."What are you Mister a fucking moron?! No I will not write your stupid name in bullets you dumb ass!"

Mars laughed himself silly.

"I almost snatched him by his shirt, I was so going to kick him into the air, thankfully Ken got in front of me. I think I made the guy piss himself."

"That's hilarious!" Mars said smacking the floor.

"Sometimes I go off alone so nobody can see how upset I get sometimes at some humans, I certainly didn't want Atlas too see it, that would have been a serious ego boost for him. I don't mind doing things and showing off when it comes to charity but I hate being in the spot light."

Mars smiled. "Maybe that's another reason I'm so jealous of you Astro…except for occasions you have an almost boring everyday life! I mean….you…you get up in the morning in a pair of P.J.'s, turn on the cartoons and drool Captain Crunch! Me? Research this, research that, lift this, lift that…compared to how you live, I suck."

Astro laid on his stomach and kicked his legs. "Well when this mess is over? How about you me and Atlas tell all the humans to take a big leap in the lake and we'll go off by ourselves for a month or two? We'll trip around Japan, do walkies around the planet, eat exotic food, get into trouble?"

"Are you serious?" Mars asked.

"Totally!" Astro replied. "If we can work this out we'll just vanish. If they want to throw us a party or something we'll just send them a card with a big "So what" written on it."

Mars nodded. "Ok! Yeah! I like that idea a lot! Sheesh you're not such a bad "Made in China" copy after all.

Astro snorted back. "You're asking to be overhauled aren't you?"

"I haven't forgotten to still sue you when this is all over." Mars snorted back.

"Sleep well ok? We'll probably need it." Astro said as he rolled over.

"You too." Mars replied as hell fell asleep.

**1pm**

**21 June 2013**

**Asahiniru-chu Castle**

**Newly established monitoring office**

Reno followed Atlas out into the castle grounds and out of ear shot of anyone. "You wanted to tell me something?"

"Yeah…I didn't want to tell Astro just yet but…when this mess is done I'm turning myself into the police." Atlas said as he played with his fingers.

"You're serious?" Reno asked.

"Well yeah." Atlas replied. "I mean….I have plenty of charges to face up too. I wanted to say that it's all over with…my being a "terrorist" and all that."

Reno beamed. "I never expected you'd completely end all that, I mean doing it voluntary anyway. I always expected Astro to have to drag you to a judge eventually."

"Things sort of changed you know." Atlas said waving his hands. "I mean I have a girl I like, my current living place is a run down piece of crap and being alone all the time has really come to suck so you know…it's not like I'll ever completely trust you crazy humans though but I can sort of tolerate the stupidity and all that."

Reno sighed. "You realize you might do some jail time for what you did…though it could all be classed under simple juvie charges of mischief making and disrupting public peace. I know Astro won't press assault charges on you…save the time you bashed the heck out of him with some guys car…that was a little excessive."

Atlas chuckled. "I'm pretty sure Inspector Towashi will be laughing when he cuffs me. I'm actually looking forward to watching his smug face melt when the charges get tossed."

Reno frowned. "You're going to tell me you're here just to save your neck aren't you?"

"No!" Atlas snapped. "I'm doing it because Astro's right. You humans don't deserve to get wiped off the planet no matter how much you all make me sick." Atlas then smiled. "But it doesn't help to have some community service stacked in advance you know."

Reno huffed. "You'll never change much."

Atlas reached and took one of Reno's hands. "I know you and I have not had the best relationship with each other and I haven't exactly been charitable for all the times Astro asked you to fix my sorry butt. I do want to make it up to you at some time though…if you'd let me?"

Reno chuckled. "Don't let me chose the way I want you to say sorry…I promise it'll be embarrassing. And I don't know if you can cook dinner."

"I completely suck." Atlas replied. "I burn water."

"I can live with that." Reno said smiling as he wrapped an arm around Atlas. "You should consider a nap though."

Atlas scratched his head. "I….gotta do something first though."

**1:34 pm **

**21 June 2013**

**30,000 feet Above Mount Fuji**

Atlas arrived to find Epsilon floating about the air in a sitting position. She had been carrying on a conversation with Becky till she saw the red colored bot fly up from below. She smiled warmly as he stopped to kiss her cheek…

"Hi." Atlas said doeishly as he handed her a flower. "Nice to have a break huh?"

Epsilon kissed him back. "You look like you flopped around in a dryer." She patted a leg and got him to sit on it. "Everything's alright so far?"

"As far as we can keep it." Atlas replied. He sat for a moment with a finger poking through his lips…"Uh…there's something I need to ask you? You don't have to say anything just yet, take as long as you want to think about it, I don't want to rush you into something if you're not ready….You know…it's a big decision and…."

Epsilon put hand over Atlas's lips. "And it is?..."

Atlas ran a hand through his thick gold hair. "Wow….I don't know if there's like a regulation on how to put this out…I mean humans…don't have manuals for a case like this and…."

Epsilon smirked. "Stop being silly and just tell me?"

Atlas sat open mouthed for a moment…..Uh…..marry me?"

Epsilon didn't react for a moment. "What?"

"Marry me." Atlas said with kind of a questioning look of part innocence and part terror. "I know….you're like what, 23 or 24 in looks and I'm kinda 12 but hey…I just have to try you know? If you don't want to I'll understand….the size difference is going to look totally crazy on a cake…."

Epsilon covered Atlas's mouth again."I did tell you I'm a flat sucker for cute hair right?" She bent towards his ear and whispered…

"Yes…and we can put stilts on the cake decoration."

For his part…Atlas didn't go crazy, didn't fly around the sky screaming….he didn't know how to act, he just sat there scratching his head…"Wow! You really don't need any time to think? I mean I don't have a house that's appropriate, it's kind of a wreck, I don't have a job, I'm wanted by the police….on juvenile mischief charges mind you! I have lousy habits…."

Epsilon smiled. "Atlas?"

"Huh?" Atlas replied with a blank look.

"Shut up." Epsilon said as she gave him a passionate kiss.

End of chapter 12


	13. Chapter 13

**4pm**

**21 June 2013**

**Asahiniru-chu Castle**

"WAKE UP LUMPS!" Atlas yelped as he slid the shoji door to the room open and blasted his high watt lighted eyes to stir his sleeping partners. "You two got enough rest, let me have the room now."

Mars sat up wiping his eyes and saw Atlas holding Epsilon's hand as they walked in. "Oooo… Gonna do some Fooly Cooly and Hanky Panky?"

"Cut it dufus." Atlas snorted back. "This rooms for her, she needs quiet." Atlas looked up at Epsilon. "You know who programmed his mind."

Astro sat up smiling. "Did he say anything yet?"

"Well…he did ask me." Epsilon said smirking. "I'm worried he's not exactly Prince Charming being he's a little short."

"Oh thanks for the love." Atlas said as he lightly smacked her arm. "I'm still not wearing a tux. I have an allergy against ties, like a neck noose."

"He just wants to avoid anything she can grab onto in case he runs." Mars snickered as he walked past.

Astro walked up and stretched out his hand. "Congrats to the both of you though…really, I'm happy for both of you. Except?...Atlas?"

"Don't ask, I'm already dealing with that question. I'll be in the next room over if you need me." Atlas said as he stretched.

"You're not going to sleep with me?" Epsilon asked him.

Atlas put his hands behind his back. "That wouldn't be appropriate. Yeah I'm a prude, I do have some values you know." He got on his toes and puckered his lips.

Epsilon kissed him on his forehead and gently rubbed his hair before he and Astro walked out and closed the Shoji behind them.

"You're blushing." Astro remarked.

"Cut it out?" Atlas snorted back. "And yes…I am a prude. She deserves such respect."

Mars was already gone, probably in the monitoring office asking all sorts of crazy questions. Atlas and Astro walked from the castle in silence for a moment till Astro stopped. "I thought you were going to get some sleep?"

"I can go a little longer." Atlas replied. "I figured you have something to talk about?"

Astro rubbed his head. "yeah…How are you going to handle all the legal stuff?" He asked.

"I was going to ask you to speak for me." Atlas replied. "I'm not going to beg you to spare anything of course, I know I'm really screwed on my first three years."

"Well…." Astro said as he kicked a foot. "You have shown positive improvements which show you want to go down a new path. Of course I know you'll never completely feel good about humans…you…never told me what happened when you were with Skunk that causes you to be so angry."

Atlas sighed. "I can't tell Epsilon…there's a lot of abuses I don't want to bring back up, especially the beatings…I can't totally trust humans, that's not going to happen."

Mars suddenly came flying out of the office and landed at the other robot's feet. "You two better get to the office, we got a serious snafu with "The Device."

Atlas snickered. "Doesn't he look like Stewie Griffen? "The Deeeevice!"

Mars. "I'm serious!"

Astro didn't wait, he jumped up and flew to the office while the other two ran the distance. They joined Cornelius and Doctor O'Shay in a corner of the room.

"I just received some word from the enrichment facility in Hiroshima. Zira told me that the process is moving slower than we expected…to the point of being a bit of a concern to use a light tone to it." Cornelius said with a breath.

"We're losing our time buffer aren't we?" Astro asked.

"Yeah…" Cobalt said as he rubbed his head. "It's coming down to like a shave and a muskrat."

Atlas cocked his head to the side…"What the heck?"

"Figure of speech, college influences, you know…humans invent the most absurd descriptions. Any way…the only way to get the purification time back on track, and this is the fun part…one of us will have to go to the plant and physically help mold the core. Basically it's using a finite precision laser and a great deal of calculus. The hard part of it will be radiation. Some one has to be hardened to prevent the radiation from affecting their circuits."

Mars snapped and threw his hands up. "I'm out of it again! You two got it! Boo yah!"

Everyone gave Mars a stink eyed look. "What? It's true…I can't do any of that, honest."

"You can't dooooo much of anything…except be an annoying bug up my butt." Atlas snapped. "This is mine."

Astro jumped. "Now hold on…" Astro said pointing. "You're planning on getting…"

"Shut up." Atlas warned. "Unlike you I am radiation hardened, one of the advantages of living with a creep like skunk. In fact I'm more redundant than you if you remember? You keep things in check with crybaby here, I'll handle Hiroshima."

Cobalt gestured. "Epsilon might get upset about this."

"She'll understand, trust me. I need a break from these two dimwits anyway." Atlas said smirking.

"Great! Now the intelligence level of this place will go up a few notches." Astro joked.

Atlas shoved him off and turned to Cornelius. "I take it your wife is there because obviously the leash is missing."

"Your sharp hilarity might make you human yet." Cornelius replied. "We don't have much time to waste so you need to get there as soon as you can."

Atlas was out the door and gone before anyone said another word.

**6pm**

**21 June 2013**

**Imperial Palace**

A chamber maiden opened the shoji door and bowed respectfully to the Emperor as he sat quietly reading a well worn and obviously very old book, somewhat oblivious to her until he pulled the headphones off. She could hear the music screaming from them.

"Majesty? Your going to damage your hearing if you keep that up." She warned him sternly.

"It's the only way I can concentrate around here." He replied.

"One does not seek harmony when one is blasting "Green Day" and annoying all of heaven." The lady replied smirking. "There is a call for you and the subject on the other end does not sound harmonious."

"Oh?" The young boy replied as he reached for his room phone. "Hello?"

"Why are you still at the palace?" Astro's voice replied.

"I can't sleep anywhere else." The Emperor snorted. "Don't you start…"

"I'm not." Astro replied. "I'm being diplomatic before I come over there and carry you out."

Astro was sitting on a castle wall looking back towards Mount Fuji and the ash pillar boiling up from behind the slopes. "I won't go skateboarding someday without someone to pick on. Besides, my brother's back from college and he wants to teach you how to snowboard."

The Emperor smirked into the phone. "Oh? Unlike you tried? That was a fun fiasco."

Astro huffed. "I'm not the one who said he could do it."

"You liar!" The Emperor snapped. "Do I have to remind who it was who said….I quote…"I can do this easily…my well endowed robotic senses are so keen…"

"I didn't say it like that!" Astro yelped.

"Shu up, your Emperor is talking." The Emperor replied. "My acute senses makes this so easy…" Yes…so easy that you easily smacked into a tree…how does bark taste when you kiss it anyway?"

"At least I've kissed something!" Astro joked. "Look Toshiro, I'm sure given the natural inclinations of humans who have some authority its right to show such heroism in the face of crisis but not if it ends up being totally useless. If things get really serious? I will pull you out of there…all the ancestors can be upset, not like I believe in ghosts any way."

Toshiro snorted back. "You try and come here and I'll hide. You find me I'll fight. You grab me and I'll introduce you to my prize treasure….my bat signed by the whole Tokyo Giants team."

"that's if you can hit me." Astro snorted. "You suck at baseball."

"Just for that, I banish you by Imperial Decree from the Imperial Palace for all time." Toshiro snorted.

"Fine. Better hope that piece of paper can stop something going about Mach 5 when it disrespectfully snatches you by your Fruit of the Loom tag." "Click"

Toshio dropped the phone receiver and frowned at the chamber maiden, who almost busted out laughing at the exchange…

"Keep it up and I'll banish you too." He warned her.


	14. Chapter 14

**7pm**

**21 June 2013**

**Rhukia Kutchki Airfield**

Astro waited till Becky came to the end of the taxi strip before he started walking next to her towards one of the hangers. "Nice of the U.S. Air Force to let me do the servicing instead of you flying all the way up to Yokota."

"Thanks for offering." The Predator drone replied. Astro looked down to see the FLIR ball move around under the UAV's nose.

"You're showing a very warm heat signature." She said as she came to a stop. "Is that normal?"

"It is when you're around." Astro replied smiling as he walked to a nearby tool box on wheels and pushed it over to where Becky was parked.

"How long did it take you to know all of the human traits you have?" She asked as Astro opened a side panel.

"Ummm….about….three years." Astro said as he looked around the engine compartment. "You know how many different types of emotions and combinations of actions humans have? Like 10,000."

"Show me a funny one?" Becky asked.

Astro strutted out in front of her and made a dopey looking face. His tongue sticking out to the side, his eyes crossed and his hands brought up in whacked out angles.

"What…..is…that?" Becky asked confused.

"I dunno." Astro replied. "It's number 8,732…haven't got a use for it yet."

He walked back, pulled out a screwdriver and started working around the inside of the open panel again.

"You know Astro? I could have an "unfortunate malfunction." If you're serious about giving me a new body?"

Astro hummed. "Forget it. I won't let you do that. I kinda frown on something like that. If you're patient I could have Doctor O'Shay negotiate with the U.S. Air Force to let him have your processor….once all the proper protocols are done."

Becky sighed. "You really are a Boy Scout."

"I follow the laws. We robots don't have an option to follow some things and blow other things off…not like humans tend to do." Astro backed out, closed the panel and walked to the opposite side. "Then again…I can't make excuses for Atlas."

"How did he end up like he has?" Becky asked as Astro again had himself half in and half out of another hatch.

"Well?..." Astro replied as he tinkered. "First they stole my plans to make him, that technically makes him my brother. Then they programmed him with this thing called the Omega factor, which allows him to do things I can't do. Then they abused him, beat him constantly….the rest is kind of a result."

"And he's never upset you?" Becky asked as Astro climbed out and closed the other panel.

"Let's just say….I've been sorely tried. It took me a while to understand him. I've been in a lot of trouble over the years standing up for him though." Astro was walking around the front….

"KABOOOM!"

"Uh….That…..didn't sound good." Astro stopped in his tracks as Becky suddenly started up her engine!

"Don't just stand there like a dumb lamp post! Get out of the way!" Becky screamed as she rolled forwards and clunked Astro off the head with her wing.

"Watch out!" He replied. "Cobalt?!" Astro called over his radio. "What's going on?! I just heard an explosion from where I'm at!" Astro said as he chased Becky out of the hanger and towards the runway.

"Dunno Bro! I'm running back to the office to find out!"Cobalt replied as Astro lit off his rockets and flew strait up, beating Becky to 30,000 feet.

Slowly Astro turned around, focusing everything from different settings in his eyes to his hearing and acute scent taking. At one point he stopped to look towards Mount Fuji and caught the tell tail whisp of a tail of steam wafting just above the lips of the main crater vent…

"Oh tell me what I'm seeing isn't what I'm seeing?" Astro said as he began to fly towards the mountain. "Cobalt? Did you see anything coming from Fuji?"

"Hey?! What gives?" Mars suddenly asked.

"Where are you?" Astro asked back.

"I'm with Nancy and Greg over in Shibusanei near the old 5th station. We were looking around the hot springs here and we heard a big boom!" Mars was standing close to the other two as they continued to work…just in case he'd have to "bug them out" in a heart beat.

Astro landed on the rim of the mountain's crater and looked down into the deep 3,000 foot conical pit with his infra-red vision. "I thought so…."

"What is it?" Becky asked as she soared above.

"A steam explosion." Astro replied as he bit a lip. "Things just got really difficult."

Harry Dalton came over Astro's radio as Astro paced back and forth. "Give to us strait here Astro, how bad is it?"

"Right now it's just steam. Probably boiling the underground water tables but that's still not a good sign. If I were you Harry? I wouldn't make a big fuss over this because it'll cause a major panic. Just call it a pressure vent release for now." Astro said as he found a place to sit. He switched his radio to a silent frequency…

"Atlas? I don't suppose you're doing anything useful?" Astro asked.

"No….me being cooped up in this stupid radiation suit in all this radiation carving away at a nuclear weapon….I mean….stupid human…..you know….."A core." Isn't exactly work." Atlas said as he stood slowly carving miniature slices from a sphere. He took a moment to look at Zira as she made hand gestures and signs for more precise cuts. "What's going on?" Atlas asked Astro.

"We may have another problem on our hands." Astro said as he stewed and tapped a finger against his head. "A stem explosion inside the main crater."

"Wonderful." Atlas snorted. "Anything you can do to manage it?"

"Right now?...no." Astro replied. "So what's the ETA on the device?"

"Slower than molasses." Atlas said as he finished another slice. "At best now? Six days is a slim possibility."

"I….don't think we have six…maybe four is a better estimate now." Astro said as he looked to see Mars running up to him. He held a hand up as he finished talking. "I'll call you back ok?"

Mars looked into the crater. "So that's where it came from?"

"Any ideas right now would be helpful." Astro said as he tried to come up with a solution. "I don't think we can do another chimney like the last time."

Mars scratched his head as he switched his eyesight through different sensors. "Not enough time…and the minerals down there are different than we had before. We'd be making glass with it."

Astro kicked his feet around. "How about an actual steel or iron chimney?"

"Not enough time." Mars replied."It's gonna blow you know…just a matter of time till it does."

Astro switched his radio. "Cobalt? I don't have any answers on this."

"Don't ask me." Cobalt replied as he sat next to Reno. "So far we're batting zip here too. Professor Aramaki's called a press conference again for 9pm and he wants your best guess since you're standing there."

Mars looked worried. "You're not going to tell em everything are you?"

"The humans have to make the choice on what to say, not me." Astro replied. "If they have to lie to save time and keep people from going nuts, as long as you and me aren't making the choices for them, that's fine but I can't hold everything back from them."

Mars looked back down into the crater. "We need a big wine cork."

"Maybe if we collect enough shaving stubbles from the word's bathroom sinks we might be able to delay an eruption." Astro snorted back. "Keep an eye on things while I give them what I have."

Mars stood for a moment by himself before he walked back to Astro. "I have an idea…what if we could drill a shaft from the water table under here and…" Mars stopped. "Ok, that's a stretch."

"What?" Astro asked. "You can't just blow it off because you think it might be dumb or something. I'll hear you out."

Mars moaned. "Well I'd call it totally ridiculous…at first I thought we might be able to dig strait to the ocean and flood the water table while giving the pressure under the mountain another outlet to control another eruption…"

Astro shrugged. "We already thought about that one."

Mars turned and pointed to the South. "Well…eight miles from here is the reservoir annex poll at Hanzoshima. It's at full capacity and it has a set of jet turbine pumps. We could dig two shafts, rig the pumps and maybe buy a day or two."

Astro looked at Mars and pursed his lips. "The problem is…a reservoir is used for drinking water…" Astro kicked at the dirst and walked around for a moment. "It's the human's choice. I think we know what we need to do."

Mars suddenly beamed. "You agree?!"

"Heck yeah I do. Never doubt yourself Mars, your cleverness is too well hidden." Astro said as he smiled. "Hey Cobalt?"

"Yeah Bro?" Cobalt replied.

"I need you to call General Armstrong and tell her to get to the Prime Minister as soon as she can, we need a decision fast on this. Tell her it's super critical."

**7:50 pm**

**21 June 2013**

**Monitoring Headquarters**

**News Conference**

NHK REPORTER: Steve? Should we expect an eruption of Mount Fuji to be in process?

Steve Martin: What we had was a steam explosion, not an eruption. Steam is evidence that magma has moved close enough to the water table beneath Mount Fuji to begin boiling the water and produce a pressure vessel which forced an opening through the mountain's central vent. However, this is considered a prime precursory event to a volcanic eruption. At the moment we are moving to monitor the vent closely but we should be ready for an eruption.

MSNBC REPORTER: What will the effect be on the whole volcanic system if Mount Fuji erupts?

Steven Martin: That would make our situation….grave…in effect it will speed up the process towards Super eruption. If Mount Fuji erupts we will not be days away from a catastrophic event but perhaps 24 hours or less.

**8pm**

**Nuclear materials purification plant**

**Hiroshima**

Atlas was stopped in his cutting when he caught Steve Martin's answer on the television outside the protective chamber he was working in…

"Fuck." He quipped.

"How about you swear less and work more." Zira snorted into her mouthpiece. "Forget the fear mongering and stay on course."

"I can't go any faster." Atlas snorted back. "You heard what he said."

"Since when does a robot who so dislikes us humans ever concern himself with what we say?" Zira demanded. "You are like my husband. If I were not on him 24 hours a day to keep him focused to his work, we would be sleeping in boxes and eating from garbage cans, I swear."

Atlas huffed. "Man you're such a…."

Zira threw a finger up. "Yes I am young man and if you don't keep attention to your work I will not spare a radiation suit to come in there and bitch slap your foolish head till it's bouncing off those walls like a ball in a squash court!"

Atlas smiled widely. "You're so after my heart…I actually respect you."

**8:15pm**

**Emergency Government Operations Command**

**Marine Corps Base, Iwakuni**

The office door flew open and in stomped General Armstrong with her aide handing a folder to her. "Prime Minister! We need a decision from you now on a matter of the gravest concern!"

Throwing the folder down on the desk, Armstrong towered over the Prime Minister. "And please Prime Minister? Don't say no, the nation is at grave risk."

The Prime Minister looked up. "Proceed without delay. Tell them myself and the rest of the country pray for success."

End of chapter 14


	15. Chapter 15

**8:50 pm**

**21 June 2013**

**Monitoring Headquarters**

Reno sat working over the keyboard and a track ball mouse before the 60 inch plasma monitor mounted on the wall in front of him. On the screen was a 3D interactive landscape of Mount Fuji and the surrounding land.

Cobalt stood behind Reno reviewing folders of geology reports with Harry Dalton…

"It's going to be difficult at that location. They'll have to cut through a deposit of quartz and they can't go under it. For your brother it shouldn't be hard but I don't know about Mars since he's not as powerful. It will slow down the boring." Harry said as he pointed out the feature on the screen.

"You can't go around it too Astro. It would make the tunnels too sharp in turns." Cobalt said as he changed his frequency. "Hey Mars? You two working on those pump lines yet?"

Mars answered back. "Yeah…where did you find this other robot? The guy's a real jerk."

"Bite me squib!" Bender's voice cracked back. "Why didn't they stick me with Atlas? At least we understand each other better than I'm having to put up with this oily nose dripping little bitch!"

"Did you hear that!" Mars snapped. "He swore!"

"It's nothing new Mars, just humor him." Astro replied. He was pacing around with his head bowed to the ground carefully scanning back and forth to find a soft access to the major water table under Fuji.

"I don't know why you're hanging around him Astro! He's nothing but a bad influence! Drinking booze, shooting flames out of his mouth, cursing…."

Bender stopped carrying a pipe and got in Mars's face.

"Bite….my…..big…shiney….metal….ass….you…..crying…. .little….twirp!"

Astro was laughing himself silly. "He's abrasive Mars but Bender's the best robot to call when you need quick machinery modifications. Just help him get those pumps lined up and your torture will be over soon."

"Hey Bro? Did you find a spot yet?" Cobalt asked as Astro got on his hands and knees…

"I think so." Astro replied. "I think by my scans, I'm at the end of the table chamber. The heat signature's not so bad here."

Cobalt turned to Harry. "If this is right? Astro's hole has to be bigger than Mars right?"

"Astro's needs to be at least 12 feet across. Jetto has to be 7 feet." Harry said as he pointed over the monitor screen. "The idea is to use the pumps at first to create a centrifugal vortex between the table chamber and the reservoir so there's a quick constant supply of water rolling through. That should keep the water cool as it runs over any magma coming into the chamber. If our luck holds out this will build up a plug and buy us time."

Cobalt turned to Reno. "When you have all the figures finalized, Zip em to Astro and Mars." Then he switched his radio. "Big bro…As it looks, it'll take the two of you three hours to dig both tunnels and the hard part will be about an hour into it. You both have to start and finish at the same time so we don't mess up the centrific process."

Astro was doing stretches, a totally useless process given he had no muscles to stretch but once again the human influences were having their way. "Same time…got it."

"Got it." Mars replied from his end as he helped Bender get the last of the piping to the large diesel pumps in place. "All the piping is done now. I'm almost ready to start from this end."

Harry Dalton took another folder from Stan Hung and showed Cobalt a piece of paper. "Earthquakes…probably magmatic…breaking rock below the water table."

Astro could hear what was going on from his own radio. "Any chance it might break into the chamber?"

"Don't worry about that till something happens." Cobalt replied.

"You're not getting my Nintendo games." Astro replied smirking.

"I don't play those things." Cobalt replied. "See….some of us in the family have to have a fully rounded education you know."

Astro snickered. "Ha…ha…big deal, so you parked your butt in a chair for 8 hours a day and got a piece of paper…whoopee doo. Any way…I guess we should get this show going?"

Astro jumped into the air and raced up to 20,000 feet where he hovered for a moment. "Mars? I'm ready to go if you are."

Mars jumped off the edge of the reservoir wall and sank down the side of the stone face to the bottom at 70 feet. He pumped his fists a few times before cracking a determined smirk on his face. "Bring it on…see you half way. Uh….you do have the pizzas?"

"Of course." Astro joked. "Ok….here I go!"

Astro kicked his legs up and fired his rockets on full blast as he screamed towards the ground. Becky caught the collision just as she rolled around and caught Astro's colored flame trail in her FLIR ball. "He's in!" She yelped.

"BANZAI!" Mars screamed at his end as he bounded off the wall, lit his leg jets and corkscrewed his body into a hard rolling flail before he smashed through the stones and began boring out his tunnel around him.

**9:15 pm**

**21 June 2013**

**Monitoring Headquarters**

"Here we go." Harry Dalton said as he leaned on Reno's chair. "So…what are the risks with these two?"

"They could run out of fuel from all this…or run so low they can't get themselves out. I don't see that happening any time soon. Malfunctions are more likely. They might burn out their lasers, their rockets might overheat. Astro's never kept his arm cannons up for more than a half hour, that's his current endurance record."

"And they're not going to take a break?" Harry asked.

Reno held his cell phone up. "You tell Astro to take a break. Once he starts something, it's not easy to get him to stop."

"My brother's pretty hard built." Cobalt said smirking. "More in the head. He's a lot like his creator Doctor Tenma in some ways."

Reno looked up at the monitor for a moment, tapped a few keys to watch the robot's process then tapped on his cell phone. "Radio check Astro….can you hear me?"

"You're a little rough." Astro replied. "There must be a lot of nickel in this material."

"You're not getting dizzy are you?" Reno asked as he remembered Astro was barrel rolling as he plowed through the earth around him."Not more than you are?"

"No problems so far." Astro replied. "The ground is easy to drill so far right?"

"For the next hour or so." Reno replied. "Mars?"

"Smooth so far." Mars replied. "Having the water as a coolant helps a lot!"

Stan Hung came up to Harry with another print out. "Tremors steady at 2.3 to 3.4. Magmatic. Depth at the moment is .5 mile from the water table chamber."

Reno took the paper and told Astro of the figures. "Interesting huh?"

"Oh yeah." Astro replied. "You'll probably start making a betting pool about it too. Will Astro make it before the lava melts him to a cinder, place bets!"

"Now I wouldn't do that would I?" Reno replied smiling.

"Need I bring up the Me/Atlas fight at the Middle School? How much did you make off that illegal venture of yours?" Astro said with a snort.

"It was all for charity!" Reno snapped back.

"I dunno….your pockets were sure packed with a lot of "Gum wrappers" weren't they?" Astro snickered.

**10:00 pm**

**21 June 2013**

**Kenichi's Grandparents house**

**Ayo near Kamashima, Far Western Japan**

Ken stopped on the dirt trail amidst the bamboo around him and finally found Zorran by herself, in her pajamas no less, sitting on the edge of an old stone water collection urn.

"Hey?" Ken said as he walked up. "There's no futon out here you know."

She didn't reply for a moment till Ken took a seat next to her. "I suppose he's not saying anything back to you?"

"I'm not out here out of any worry." Zorran replied. "I totally trust my brother."

"So why are you out here?" Ken asked.

"I guess I want to get as much in my mind of what things look like. Just in case everything… humanly speaking… goes tits up."

Ken almost laughed. "You sure catch on quicker to using catch phrases than Astro does!"

Zorran slipped off the urn. "Well it's honest isn't it? "Tits up!" "Messed up!" "Screwed up!" "Totally fu…."

Ken slapped a hand over Zorran's mouth. "Do us all a favor and stay neat and innocent just a little longer Zorran?"

Zorran pulled Ken's hand away. "Ok…you know what's really got me upset?! Cobalt's not like Astro at all and where is he? Up there doing something. Atlas and Astro all but hate each other and where's Atlas? Doing something! And Mars….Mars…."

"Your love interest?" Ken sniped.

"NO!" Zorran snapped back. "Ugh! That moron?!"

Ken chuckled. "I know you dream of him, stop kidding!"

"Dufus! At least he's doing something! Where's Zorran? "She can just sit back and look cute." UGH! I'M SO FRUSTRATED! Astro has a set of arm cannons, Atlas has a sweet body, Mars can crush cars, Cobalt's an M.I.T. graduated genius and what am I?"

"Annoying?" Ken said smirking.

"Do you wanna get wrapped around a tree?" She warned him. "It's girl hate I tell you! I am SICK of being a decorative hood ornament for my brothers!"

Ken stood feeling sympathy for Zorran's torment. "I think I can find something to make you feel better Zorran…that's if you can trust me?"

"I dunno." Zorran replied. "You're not exactly "In charge" of anything Kennedy."

Ken tapped his foot and pursed his lips. "Oh…trust me ok? Astro doesn't nickname me "The Operator" for nothing."

End of chapter 15


	16. Chapter 16

**11:00 pm**

**21 June 2013**

**Mars and Astro digging to and from Fuji**

"It's getting tougher now." Mars said as he slowed to allow his less powerful finger lasers more time to melt through the rock and soil around him. "I suppose you're having no problems."

"Actually…" Astro replied. "I'm stalled."

Mars stopped. "You ok?"

"Oh yeah…" Astro said as he lay flat in his tunnel. "It'll be about ten minutes though, my arm cannons just ran into their operational heat interpass limit so they went into auto shutdown."

Back at the monitoring office, Reno looked up at the screen and back to the ever growing stack of monitoring figures on his desk. "Hey Astro? Just a nudge concerning the magmatic tremors…

"Don't panic me Reno?" Astro asked as he sat up. "Unless there's lava pouring in behind me, I don't need the distraction."

Mars stopped himself as well, though the water around him from the reservoir kept him constantly cooled, he didn't want to race too far ahead and throw everything off. "Hey Reno? How's Atlas doing?"

"Slow." Reno replied as he sat rubbing the sleepy droop in his eyes. "I think he's treating the core material like a soap block or something. Wouldn't surprise me if he shapes a Hello Kitty out of it."

Astro jumped in. "Since I can't call Zorran from here Reno, would you call her and let her know I'm ok?"

"I thought ahead of you." Reno replied. "She told me not to bother her."

"Wow…what a loving family you have." Mars snipped.

Astro shook his arms around and got ready to fire himself up again. "So mars…why don't you tell everyone about how hard you keep trying to impress her?"

"What!" Mars snapped. "I don't like her! I wouldn't go ten feet near her! She's annoying!"

Reno contorted his face. "Wow…such animosity!"

Astro giggled. "They go to the same school together…Number 2 elementary. Actually it's a hidden relationship between them, they really like each other."

Mars snapped. "I…..don't…..LIKE ZORRAN! She still owes me a book bag and the Metro Thunder jacket she tore!"

"Of course you're innocent." Atlas huffed. "They bumped each other in the hall and you know Zorran doesn't exactly have command of emotions yet. She called him an ugly version of me and "Wabing!" he called her a shrill mouse and she poured milk in his book bag….

Reno sat shaking his head. "Nice first date."

"Shut up!" Mars snapped. "She assaulted me! That terrorist!"

Astro stood trying not to laugh. "Well it devolved into a near brawl. She grabbed his jacket, tore the sleeves and they fell over each other and that's when they "accidently" kissed." Got a pic from a kid's cellphone, absolutely pricess."

"I didn't kiss HER!" Mars yelled.

"Go see it on my Facebook Reno, it's so cute." Astro said as he pointed his arms out and got ready to shoot.

"Astro!" Mars yelled. "You're dead do you hear me! When this is done….you….me…parking lot! I'll wreck you! I'll bust the concrete with your face!"

Astro smiled. "Mars?"

"WHAT! KNOCK OFF!" Mars screamed.

"Here….comes the bride….Here….comes the bride…" Astro sang happily.

"Grrrrrrrr…..I'LL USE YOUR HEAD FOR A SOCCER BALL YOU CREEP!"

Back at the office, Harry Dalton, Stan, Greg and Nancy were all huddled behind Reno laughing at the angry back and forth between the two robots.

"Does this happen all the time?" Nancy asked.

"Oh yeah." Reno replied smiling, "It's good for them to do this at each other…takes all the tension of the work away. Of course when they get here I think we should all start running to avoid the flying cars and utility poles."

**11:20 pm**

**Nuclear materials purification plant**

**Hiroshima**

Atlas emerged from the decontamination room and without a stop he trudged into a nearby room, flopped onto a couch and pulled a blanket down from off the backrest. He was for all present conditions…completely drained.

It wasn't long after when Zira came through the door and pulled a chair next to the couch. "A splendid effort on your part. You certainly made a major contribution."

Atlas had his back to her and waved. "Yeah….yeah…typical human platitudes."

Zira smirked. "Not one for appreciations I see."

"Not like it was a big deal." Atlas replied sleepishly. "Just trim a piece of rock to what you wanted, how am I supposed to react? Jump around like a prideful dimwit and go looking for some news reporter to drool on a camera?"

"You're a very interesting study, did you know that?" Zira asked. "You absolutely have no reason to do anything for humanity and I would understand why completely given the nature of your history and yet here you are doing something for the very beings you despise and you're helping someone you've never had a real affinity of enjoying any company with. It's all together fascinating."

Atlas pursed his lips and thought. "What am I? Some dumb science beaker in a high school lab?" He rolled around. "Can I sleep?"

"Of course…forgive me." Zira replied. "Scientific curiosity you understand."

Atlas thought for a moment. "Here's a more difficult question…given what this device can do or may do…who among the humans is going to make the choice to use it? Can you really trust any human to decide the fate of billions of others?"

"It's not my place to worry about such deep thinking." Zira replied.

"Then who is?" Atlas remarked. "I'm fully aware that if this thing doesn't work, many people could end up dead. It's a big decision to make. Perhaps someone should take the lead and make that known? Just thinking. I really need to sleep…if you don't mind?"

Zira bowed slightly. "Of course."

As she got up to leave, Atlas waved…"By the way? If there were only a few humans I'd do anything for? You kinda made the top ten on the list….just so you know."

"Very kind of you." Zira replied.

"I have my moments." Atlas said with a slight smile.

**12:17am**

**22 June 2013**

**NBC NEWS SPECIAL REPORT **

**Brian Williams live in Asahiniru-chu**

Brian Williams and his cameraman walked into the monitoring office where Steve Martin had been waiting for him…

Brian Williams: Good Morning Steve. Explain to our audience what this latest process is and how you hope it will affect the situation as it stands.

Steven Martin: As you're aware Brian, there is a steady activity of what are called magmatic tremors below Mount Fuji and that the main throat of the volcano was cleared by a large steam explosion. This means that heat from rising magma has begun to effect the water table, a vast chamber or pocket of moisture, below the surface. This can potentially bring on a major volcanic eruption and as you know that will turn our situation here to extremely dire.

Brain Williams: I understand that at the moment, two powerful robots are working to flood this chamber with water?

Steven Martin: Not so much flood Brian but to create a system similar to a nuclear reactor cooling unit. The plan is to produce a reciprocating water engine, a flow of high pressure water that robs any rising magma of heat and reduces the possibility of steam build up in the chamber.

Brian Williams: How close are these two robots now towards finishing this work?

Steve Martin: About another 90 minutes. They just made their half way marks and are cutting through a solid stretch of rock.

Reno kept his eye on Williams as he took another report of tremors from under Fuji. "Hey Astro? Brian Williams is here from NBC."

"Oh yeah?" Astro replied. "Let him talk to mars if he asks."

"You're sure?" Reno replied.

"Nothing stokes Mars better than to be recognized." Astro replied.

Williams walked up with Martin and shook Reno's hand. "So what's your part in all this?"

Reno tapped a few keys and handed a hand mike to Williams. "I coordinate the two robots. Right now you have Mars on the other end, he's drilling from the reservoir to the Fuji Water table."

Brian Williams: Hello Mars, this Brian Williams with NBC News.

Mars: Oh….no way!

Brian Williams: I understand you're the heavy hitter of this whole operation?

Mars: Oh yeah! I mean this isn't even a sweat breaker, I've done bigger jobs than this one but they knew who to rely on to get this done quick!

Astro gasped…"The levels of human waste are rising fast around here." He smirked and laughed.

Brian Williams: You must know that the whole world has been holding its collective breath so far in this situation and what you robots have done here thus far seems to eclipse the word amazing. How do you feel about that?

Mars: Well you know we robots really don't have "feelings" but right now I'm just super charged by all the thoughts of people out there. And don't you worry because we're going to beat this stupid mountain at its own game, you watch us!

Brian Williams: Now that's what I call extreme self confidence.

Astro just shook his head. 'That's what I call extreme brain deformation."

Mars laughed. "Hah! And who did they call on? Not you super copy cat!"

"Reno…maybe this wasn't a good idea." Astro remarked. "Now I have to put up with him flapping his mouth the rest of the way!"

Mars was talking over both of them. "I am the best built robot around, yes sir! Me Mars the magnificent! The real deal! The big kid on the block!..."

Astro sighed. "Reno?"

"Yeah." Reno replied smugly as he listened to the brightful bantering.

"When I come out of this?...put me out of my misery?" Astro begged.

"I may beat you to the gun." Reno replied as he sat shaking his head and almost laughing.

End of chapter 16


	17. Chapter 17

**2:17am**

**22 June 2013**

**Hanzoshima Reservor**

It felt like forever but Astro finally broke through the wall of the resevor, came up out of the water and flopped on his back in the grass at the edge.

"Hey! Astro's here." Bender said as he bent down. "How you feelin?"

"Like a beat up drill bit." Astro replied as he lay still. "Mars? Oh glorious savior of all mankind, where are you?!"

"I'm about five minutes from being finished." Mars replied.

"I can't move." Astro said smiling. "I don't suppose someone will be there when you come up? Trust me, you're going to feel it when you stop drilling."

"Reno said Harry Dalton was going to be there with a helicopter so I'm not worried." Mars replied. "You better tell Bender to get ready to fire up those jet pumps."

Astro opened his chest door and took a look at the small monitor screen. "What's the latest on earthquakes Reno?"

"Steady" Reno replied. "Nothing serious as of yet. Good timing getting all this done."

"I'll get the pumps ready to turn up." Bender said as he helped Astro stand up. "Can you walk?"

Astro took a few steps and tripped into Bender's arms. "Not….yet. Might as well sit and wait."

**2:30am**

**22 June 2013**

**Mount Fuji, 570 foot level.**

Harry and Terry stood around an earthquake monitoring station as Mars broke the ground and stumbled to a landing on his hands and knees…

"I was hoping it would be more dramatic." Mars said as he sat in the dirt and beat the dirt clumped in his ears. "I closed the digging shaft behind me so we're ready to start any time."

Harry knelt down. "What did you see at the water table?"

"A lot of steam." Mars replied. "The magma must be closer because it was like a Turkish broiler down there. Astro? You can tell Bender to hit the pumps any time now."

**2:37am**

**22 June 2013**

**Hanzoshima Reservor**

BENDER! HIT THE PUMPS!" Astro screamed out.

"What? Are you stupid or something?! I did all this work and now you want me to beat on these pumps?"

Astro shook his head. "Human slang Bender….turn the pumps on?"

Bender shook his hand. "Stop speaking like a human and I might be able to understand you! Sheesh our kind is so human poisoned its' absolutely stupid…"

Astro shook his head. "Bender? Less complaining and more switch flipping please?"

Bender ran into the control building and started flipping switches and pulling handles as Astro slowly shuffled in and flopped in a chair. "Don't forget the charging switch." He said smiling.

"Stop bugging me while I'm working…when I need the cheering section, I'll ask for it." Bender said as he looked over the running board and passed his eyes around all the gauges. "Engines charged….engaged!"

The 747 engine driven pumped roared to life and 300 gallons a second worth of water began to surge through the dug out shaft and pour into the water table chamber till it was full! The water flew back out the other shaft both from the pressure of the engines and the pressure being built by the steam being made as the water surge contacted magma as it began to punch from below into the chamber. The effect happened just as Cobalt expected. In effect they had a nuclear power plant water coolant system under the volcano.

**3:15 am**

**21 June 2013**

**Monitoring Headquarters**

Reno was all but falling from his chair when Cobalt held him up. "Tremors slowing…pressure readings stabilizing…Looks like its' working."

And this is where you stop working. "Cobalt swooped Reno up in his arms and carried him up to one of the rooms in the castle.

"I'm not tired." Reno tried to complain as Cobalt threw a blanket over him.

"I don't care." Cobalt replied smiling. "You can't go another hour and not pass out. I'll work your computer for you."

Cobalt walked to the sliding doors. "And don't try getting up…I'll tie you up like a rodeo cow if you do…I did that for fun at M.I.T. by the way."

As he turned to walk out, Cobalt met Atlas coming the other way. "How did things turn out?" Cobalt asked.

"Well we have a material core shaped. That took some time, guess you can tell?" Atlas said smirking.

"The droopy eyes." Cobalt replied. "Did you fly back?"

"I had to pick up Astro on the way. I gave him to Doctor O'Shay so he could be checked out."

Cobalt cocked his head. "Did I hear you right?"

"What?" Atlas replied.

"You said Doctor O'Shay. Usually you use an insult." Cobalt said smiling. "You're becoming more infected every moment you know."

"Shut up!" Atlas said playfully as he pushed Cobalt back. "Number one I'm tired and number two I can call anyone what I like. That includes you…you slimy, human chameleon, coke bottle glasses wearing, egg headed dumb ass."

Cobalt chuckled. "Well if that's a measure of my performance, I'll take it."

"You better." Atlas snorted back. "Or I'll kick your metal butt into a trash can for a 3 pointer." He gave Cobalt a smirky nod and trudged off to get some sleep.


	18. Chapter 18

9:15 am

21 June 2013

Monitoring Headquarters

Astro saw Epsilon landing in the courtyard of the Castle grounds and ran to catch her. "Hey! Finally got a break?'

"For the next five days hopefully." She replied. "It's the winds that I have to tend too. They'll be abnormally unpredictable the next three days so I need some updates to manage the ash fall."

"Well…you've done good so far keeping the fall spread localized." Astro said as he stopped to stretch.

Epsilon looked towards the castle. "I don't suppose Atlas is up?"

"I let him sleep." Astro replied. "He spent most of yesterday carving the core for this device that Doctor Cornelius has been working on. We gained a little time back from that and the drilling we did last night."

"A quick whit of inspiration." Epsilon remarked. "And you guys acted on it instead of debating it. You know that's why humans get themselves into such a fix most of the time? They like to talk about how big and bad they are at risk taking but in reality? They'll spend a week fretting over impact studies and budgets while the dam's springing leaks."

Astro nodded. "Guess that's why they need us so bad. So of all the bots around, you picked Atlas or did he pick you?"

Epsilon waved a finger. "Some things are better kept in one's personal memory banks."

Astro waved a hand back. "What I need to know is if you could afford to hold off any wedding plans….oh…..bout six months?"

"That's a stretch." Epsilon replied. "Why?"

"Well…" Astro replied smiling and rubbing a boot over the ground. "If we succeed in stopping Fuji…me, Atlas and Mars are going to just kiss everyone goodbye and we're going on a vacation."

Epsilon smirked. "You're not planning to get into trouble?"

"I dunno?" Astro replied shrugging and smiling. "We'll see what our complete lack of rules and absolute stupidity can cause I guess."

"Just bring him back in one piece?" Epsilon said chuckling. "And if he falls for another robot? You won't find a hole small enough to escape the tornado I'll bring down on you."

"Gee….how lovable." Astro replied as he watched Epsilon walk to the castle.

9:15 am

21 June 2013

Marine Corps Air Base, Iwakuni

Kenichi Kennedy walked around the ever crowding airbase, where tents took up every space that could be found to hold refugees and other important needs, with Zoran holding him by the hand as they peaked into a building or hut every so often to find the man Ken told Zoran about.

It took a little time but Ken finally caught site of the man as he was climbing into a truck near the airfield. "Uncle! Uncle Hinotori!" Ken called out as he and Zoran ran up to the truck.

"Ken?" The officer remarked as he climbed from the truck. "Please tell me the family isn't here?"

"No Sir." Ken replied. "We're all up in Ayo. I brought you the girl I was telling you about."

Hinotori contorted his face. "You're kidding right?"

"No." Ken replied. "You said you needed someone with some animal skills, well she's pretty good."

Hinotori shook his head. "Ken? I was talking about someone not only experienced but perhaps with some…pardon me young lady….with some size on them."

Ken bit his lip as he felt Zoran passing him up. No one escaped her temper when they made the mistake of slighting her size, not even Astro escaped the small nuclear explosion that so described the robot girl's tantrums.

Zoran bounced on her toes. "Ken told me you needed someone with experiences with animals right? I consider myself better than most…and please don't say short? I don't like being called short."

Hinotori rubbed his hair. "Well our problem is sitting on the airfield. Two cargo planes just arrived with animals from Ueno Zoo and some of them are not cooperating. The elephants ran the handling crews off and they're not in a good mood."

Zoran walked around the truck to the other side and opened the door. "You should probably get out." She ordered the solder as she climbed up and sat in the seat. "Well I'm not going to sit here picking my nose." She commanded.

Hinotori looked at Ken, who shrugged back, before driving Zoran to the two large C-5 Galaxy transport planes sitting at the end of the parking apron.

Zoran's eyes bulged wide…"WHAT?!" She jumped from the truck and stomped furiously to the wide open inside of the planed revealed since their noses were swung over their cockpits. "UGH! WHAT STUPID MORON PACKED THESE PLANES! UGH…..DUMB ASSES!"

Zoran's mouth dropped open as she saw how the animals were stored. "You have the Elephants in chains, the lions in cages too small for them, the monkeys are in cages too big which took up too much space, You got ropes around the necks of the ostriches! NO WONDER THEY WON'T LISTEN TO YOU, YOU STUPID IDIOT HUMAN KNUCKLEHEADED…."

Hinotori shuddered from Zoran's screaming. "Is she always like this?"

"Good think her brother's not here." Ken replied. "She'd use him for the punching bag."

Zoran stomped off one of the planes right up to Hinotori and for a moment it looked as if he would get what the Jews of old got when they really angered God! She stopped shaking a finger then slowly rubbed her nose….

"Ohhh…kay. I'm going to fix this." With a breath, Zoran walked back to one of the planes and emerged with a white lion cub dangling in her arms. She set him down and made him sit.

"You're the leader." She said sternly in a language that made Hinotori and Ken look at each other in bewilderment.

The cub pointed a paw to himself. "Me?" He replied to Zoran somewhat sarcastically.

"Yeah. White Lion, legend of Egypt, super smart, you should know the story?" She said waving her hand.

The cub stood on his hind legs and cocked his head. "Do I look like a Prince? Shoot, no one told me about the coronation, where's my crown, rod and staff?"

Zoran waved her finger. "It's a natural gift with all White Lions…just quit with the flappy yap Simba and do your thing?"

The cub's face suddenly turned angry. "What….did you call me?"

"Just do it Simba." Zoran replied with a puffy attitude.

Suddenly the cub pounced and knocked her flat on her back! "Look here…whatever you are… Don't you EVER…..EVER! Call me SIMBA! I've had enough of that stupid name! UGH! My names always on my cage, I wear a big collar tag that says it and still people call me that dumb, cartoon name! It's KIMBA, toots….KIMBA! In Egyptian script it's "Kabahsutesh" which means "Great one of grace."

"Ok….Kielbasa, just fix this problem the humans have made." Zoran snapped back with a smirk.

Kimba softened his face and rubbed a paw over her head. "I like you…we click!"

Kimba purked himself up and strutted up the ramp of one of the planes. "OK EVERYBODY! NO MORE ACTING LIKE A BUNCH OF CRYING COMPLAINING STUPID HUMANS! OUT OF THE CAGES! GET THE STUPID ROPES OFF! LET'S GO, LET'S GO GET THE LEAD OUT OF YOUR HINDS! HUP TWO THREE FOUR HERE!..."

Zoran walked back to Hinotori smiling as he watched Kimba marching the animals out of the planes and off the parking apron.

"You just need to know the right words." She said smiling. "Come on Ken…let's get lunch."


	19. Chapter 19

**9:43 am**

**21 June 2013**

**Monitoring Headquarters **

Astro whispered to Mars who leaned over to Atlas with a sarcastic smirk. "If you two could control yourselves for like 10 minutes? The table will be available."

Epsilon frowned back. "Keep it to yourself flea." She snorted as she ran a hand softly through Atlas's hair. The little play wasn't going un-noticed…

"Would you two show a little bit of self control? This is an important meeting." General Armstrong said as she walked up. "Though I must say to all of you that so far your efforts deserve great respect."

Atlas snickered back. "A month long paid vacation in Hawaii would be nice?" Atlas said smiling. "What do you think Epsilon? They could pay for the wedding? The after party?... and the sweet with a killer hot tub?"

Armstrong got in Atlas's face. "You better consider answering to all the legal charges that are still pending for your behavior there Mister Atlas….I wouldn't be thinking of leaving Japan under the illusion you'll just walk away Scott free."

Atlas shrank a little from Armstrong's gaze and flipped his lips as she walked off. "I bet she wouldn't be married five minutes before she shoots her husband." He snorted.

Astro looked around. "Most of the principles are here. This must be very important."

Mars yawned. "Better hurry up. I don't do well when I'm still tired. I get really bitchee."

Atlas smirked. "You "Get"? I always thought you were a little bitch."

Suddenly from right of the room came Cornelius and Zira with Zira taking the podium first. "We have called this meeting to inform you all on the progress of the device. We are on the final stages of the device assembly, about 48 hours from now."

Zira turned to work on the quick erase board behind her. "In preparation for the final placement of the device, we will need to perform a final survey of the plain within an arc of seven miles from the summit of Mount Fuji to find the best and thinnest location above the magma chamber to deploy the device. Once again we'll have to fall upon the services of the good robots at the back of the room."

Astro cocked his head as everyone looked at him. "Huh? Are you telling me that no one got our school vacation slips?"

"Yeah…." Mars snorted. "Isn't there a school law about that?"

Atlas smirked. "I burned them."

"You suck." Astro snorted playfully.

"Excuse me!" Zira snapped. "This is a serious matter you three!"

Atlas shrugged. "If we took it like some of you humans do? We'd have smoke and sparks flying from our ears. Lighten up there toots."

Mars pointed to the other two. "Don't blame me, I'm being sinfully influenced by them."

The room broke out in laughter for a moment. "Alright…obviously a moment of brevity is fine but can we venture back to the important center of this matter?" Zira pleaded. "Cornelius?"

Cornelius walked to the podium. "I will give you a simple and brief explanation of the device's intention. Once it is planted and armed, the process is two phased. First there will be an atomic detonation, 20 kilotons, that will initiate a greater 30 megaton transfusion process that by interaction of the compounds enclosed in the core will progress into the Kelvanic process by which the magma chamber will be changed from a liquid state of thousands of degrees to a solid under the state of absolute space. In short, the whole volcanic engine below Fuji will be rendered dead."

Cornelius stalled for a moment. "Of course…and I sharply define this…of course, there are risks involved."

Atlas leaned over to the other two robots. "In others words? It's made by humans so we could be screwed."

"Shhhhh…." Astro replied waving his hand.

Cornelius tapped the podium. "We can not conduct a pre-test of the device to know its true power. That part of the equation comes by the work that robots around the world have done…"

Atlas snorted. "Here we go…if it screws up we'll blame these dumb asses."

"Atlas!" Astro warned. "Cut it out!"

Mars sighed. "Well he's sort of right."

Cornelius continued. "There is a possibility that the device could exceed our efforts. Thus in the hope of shutting down just Mount Fuji? We could end up shutting down the whole planetary heating system. Bluntly?...if that happens we will all be screwed."

Atlas clapped his hands. "THERE YOU GO!"

Epsilon slapped him off the head. "Stop it?! Your big head is ballooning again."

Zira smirked at her husband. "You always have to bring up your doubts."

Cornelius replied. "What do you want me to do? It's a theoretical possibility."

"Only in a minutia of one in 50,000 resultants from our studies. You need to have more faith in yourself, I always tell you that."

Cornelius replied. "Faith is not a math construct Zira. In the end I must do what every person does when faced with a probability….I'll be on my knees throwing what remains skywards in the hope that 1 in 50,000 will be covered."

Doctor O'Shay broke the back and forth. "Could we restrain the theological argument and return to the present tribulation we are going through?"

Zira looked at Cornelius and sighed. "You really should stop putting yourself so short."

"If I did that, you would be out of a job now wouldn't you?" Cornelius replied smiling.

"HEY!" Atlas yelled. "IF YOU'RE DONE YAPPING, GO GET A ROOM!"

"SLAP!" Epsilon smacked Atlas off his head. "Behave yourself! Am I going to have to carry duct tape everywhere with you?"

In the midst of all the backs and forths, Brian Williams of NBC was leaning towards Steve Martin. "How are we going to address this?"

"I'm surprised you're not running to the microphone already." Steve returned.

"This is extremely weighty Steve. We're talking about the risk of global annihilation to stop global annihilation. If we put this out on the air waves? It will start riots and get scores of people killed. This is way past our right to talk about it."

Steve nodded. "Then don't. Just talk about the device and say the matter of use needs to go to those of higher authority. Give me an hour to get some consultation then I'll release what we need to report."

Williams nodded. "Problem is? Who will be given the authority to use the device? You try giving it to just one leader and every President, dictator, governor and the mayor of Pocopawnie Wyoming will be bitching for a say."

Steve looked at Williams with a smirk. "Where the hell is Pocopawnie?"

"Do I look like an expert?" Williams replied. "Somewhere between Watoostie and Winabeagle."


	20. Chapter 20

10:30 am

21 June 2013

Castle grounds

Atlas, Astro, Mars, Epsilon and Zira walked about the castle grounds after the meeting with Atlas's penchant attitude on humans coming out in full bloom…

"So….who gets to decide the use of this thing?" Atlas asked. "I don't think any human could make up their minds, after all you have to chose between saving your butt and frying the planet. We could let the Japanese Diet have the issue I think. You know how things usually goes there right? They talk, one guy insults some other guys mother, a chair gets thrown and the punches fly. I say we chose the guy who didn't get a black eye to make the decision."

Astro chuckled a bit. "Then let the United Nations do it?"

"You're smoking." Mars snorted. "The United Nations? Those guys can't decide if the water cooler pressures not enough for the Zambian delegate to get a drink! I've been there one time and it took just once to figure out how so many morons could be packed into such a dense building. You save space on the air volume in their empty heads."

Epsilon threw a hand up…"The Pope."

Zira stomped a foot. "Certainly not! I will not trust the safety of the world to a man who rides around in a white Zamboni, who eats Pasta like a super Kirby vaccum cleaner and claims his cat was the reincarnated Virgin Mary!

"Uh?" Astro tried to butt in.

"Shut up, I am on a roll here…" Zira snorted. "Besides, to do that we would have to ignore every other religious leader in the world and as you well know it won't be long before the Witch doctor of lower Zambeezi will be paddling to Jerusalem to get his dibs on with the Muslim Cleric who's chasing the Jewish rabbi who in turn is damming the Dali Lama who just called Lord Vishnu's daughter the emanate whore of Babylon!"

"Woe, woe!" Atlas snapped. "Children right here! You didn't hear a thing Mars."

Astro stopped and threw his hands up. "Wait." Astro turned and tapped his foot. "It should be someone people can have some trust in what they say. Since Japan is in direct threat of all this mess, the responsibility should fall on the Prime Minister."

"I don't like the Prime Minister." Atlas snorted.

"I think you suck too." Astro snapped back. "I was talking about the Emperor."

Zira gave Astro a questioning look. "You want to place this weighty matter on a mere teenager?"

"That "mere teenager" is more than you think." Astro said. "I know him. I don't think any other human could carry a more important message. Right now he's the only human leader I know that's refusing to save himself. You need someone with guts who'll speak the blunt truth."

Mars rubbed his head. "Astro's right. He is pretty smart for his age."

Atlas huffed. " I still say "we" should do it. The humans already know we could send them back into the middle ages with a flick of a switch."

"We're trying to make honey Atlas, not spit vinegar?" Astro sighed. "I'll go talk to the Emperor while you two help Zira and Epsilon with the last survey for the device."

11:15 am

21 June 2013

Imperial Palace, Tokyo

Everything was covered in a dull grey powder, even the once blue moat of the palace had turned long into a dingy soup. Except for the occasional military police vehicle slowly making its' way through the streets and blowing a cloud of dust behind it, Tokyo was a noiseless and barren ghost town. Astro looked at the palace, its' many buildings covered in an ash snow, and shook his head with a sly humor.

"Stubborn." He said before he flew over the wall and landed at the door of the family residence.

It took three door bell rings and seven rounds of knocking before the door opened and the white haired youth with a bright orange Tony Hawk T-Shirt stood rubbing his sleepy eyes.

"This and you're sleeping in?" Astro said as he waved a hand around. "And not even having a door man, how royal can you get?"

Toshiro snorted back. "I was up late. If you've come to drag me out? I warn you I have my baseball bat at hand."

Astro walked in. "No….actually I came to tell you that we're close to having a device that might stop Mount Fuji's destruction."

"Throwing Atlas into the volcano might not work." Toshiro replied as Astro found a seat.

"Actually we thought of Zoran but her being so annoying might cause the Volcano to blow the whole world up." Astro shook his head. 'Why are we making light of all this?"

"Humor tends to deafen out the fear." Toshio said as he pulled a chair over. "I hope you have a solution. It pains me to see my Grandmothers prize cherry trees looking so sickly. And hearing the reports of our suffering people. Japan seems to be made the focal point of God's wrath."

"About this device?" Astro said rubbing his hands. "There's two things we need to talk about. Since Japan is the most direct affected country? I think you should be the person to tell the world about what we're going to try. I don't think…and I've worked this by calculation…anyone else could explain this better than you."

Toshiro rubbed his wild hair. "And I seem to be God's focal point for abuse."

"He seems to like you." Astro said smiling. "There is a chance…that the device might be too powerful. If it goes beyond our calculations? It could shut down the Earth's very heat engine. In short…bye bye everything."

Toshiro blew from his mouth and bit his lips. "Don't do it and we die…do it and we may die."

"That's about as messed up as we have it." Astro said.

Toshiro stood up and paced a bit. "I'll call the Prime Minister and the UN Secretary General. I don't think we should delay another minute."

"I kinda thought you'd react like this." Astro said smiling.

"Of course." Toshiro replied. "I want another chance for us to duel again. I still say you cheated the last time we were boarding."

"You didn't say I couldn't use my jets." Astro snorted. "Not my fault you didn't wear a cup when you chicken boned that stair railing. Not very dignified for the Son of Heaven."

Toshiro frowned and got in Astro's face. "Get out of here before you experience my divine wrath?"

"Your farts scare me worse." Astro said as he turned around and left the house.


	21. Chapter 21

**1:15pm**

**NBC NEWS SPECIAL REPORT**

**Brian Williams**

Announcer: This is an NBC Special Report. Here is Brian Williams.

Brian Williams: This is Brian Williams live at the Mount Fuji monitoring center, we've just had a major development occur not five minutes ago, a rather ominous situation as you can see on your screen next to me. This is what volcanologists call a fire curtain, a tear in the earth's surface, not ten miles from this castle and it is sending a shower of molten lava 80 feet into the air. This is a dangerous situation, we now bring you Doctor Harry Dalton. Doctor Dalton what does this mean?

Harry Dalton: It changes the whole situation Brain, in short it's a dangerous run away event like a zipper that's been torn in the middle. The teeth of this zipper will just continue to open longer and longer and the longer this rips open, the more lava will spew forth. We'll lose desperately needed time and the likelihood of a catastrophic event is more certain.

Brian Williams: can this be stopped?

Harry Dalton: No. Not by any means we have I'm afraid.

Brian Williams: Thank you Doctor. I understand that the President of the United States is preparing to speak to the nation at this moment. Given the situation we now face with this fire curtain, things may have reached an accelerated urgency. In Russia at the moment, the Russian authorities have instituted national Civil Defense measures we thought were relegated to the Cold War past. Thousands of civilians in Moscow are moving to old underground bunkers. In Paris, France the Louve has been evacuated to storage sites in Norway. In the Middle East, unprecedented beyond anyone's imagination Jews and Muslims have stopped fighting and are praying en masses almost side by side at the wailing wall and the dome of the rock….

Ladies and Gentlemen, The President…

POTUS: My fellow Americans. I don't believe there are few if any of us around the country who are not aware of the situation in Japan and the potential threat it poses not only to the people of that nation but to all the world. I….need not go into detailed elaboration. For the moment I urge you, I urge you to remain calm however it is your Governments' responsibility to ensure the safety of all Americans, all Americans and given the growing threat this situation will cause to our society, as your president I must take the appropriate actions to ensure the survival of this nation. That being said, I must with the support of the Congress, after detailed consultation with the governors of the 48 continuous states, Alaska, Hawaii and our territories….enact Martial Law…

Brian Williams: Holy…shit.

POTUS: I have been informed that his highness, the Emperor of Japan, will make a statement of profound importance sometime in the next six hours. I have not been made privy to these details but they are said to be of the highest importance to the survival of the human race. I ask you all to pray…to pray deeply….to pray earnestly…..to not lose hope.

Brian Williams: The President….ladies and gentlemen….Martial Law….my God….

**1:20pm**

**The curtain of fire**

**Sagasumata Village**

"Wow!" Astro said as he landed next to Atlas and Mars.

"Wow?" Atlas said as he gave Astro a sideways smirk. "We're screwed and all you can say is "Wow?" Such a prune."

"How much is this going to affect everything?" Astro asked as he paced about.

"If it doesn't stop well…the more the less time." Atlas saidas he thumped Astro's head. "Come on brainiac….think!"

"Cut it out!" Astro snorted. "We can't close it! What, you want me to cry on the thing? I can try that and we can get a few laughs."

As Astro and Atlas brooded at each other, Mars was walking back and forth looking at the column of lava and playing with his lips. "Hey!" He said suddenly as he ran back to Astro and Atlas and started pushing them. "You go over there….you go over there…."

"What?" Astro yelped.

"Just go to the end of the curtain." Mars said as he prodded both of them into position at each end of the fire curtain. "Now listen guys…I want you to drill a set of countersunk holes with angles….like this!" Mars held up his hands, palms inward, at angles to each other. "Dig as far down as you can."

"Oh yeah? And what if we hit lava?" Atlas snorted.

"It'll be an improvement, trust me." Mars snorted back.

"What are we trying to do Mars?" Astro asked.

"Look busy." Mars replied. "Just get digging!"

With that, Astro and Atlas went at it! Clouds of flying dirt flew up from the holes as the two robots dug a hole starting with a wide open mouth and shrinking until they came out dancing and cursing from hitting pockets of broiling heat below their feet!

"&^%$& ! MY BOOTS!" Atlas screamed. "I ruined my boots you turd!" Atlas stomped up to Mars ready to throw a punch when suddenly a noise that sounded like a cannon went off behind him. Atlas turned to see the fire curtain split further open until it ran into the two dug holes and stopped cold.

Astro stood with his mouth hanging. "Wow…"

"There you go again!" Atlas said annoyed. "Wow!...wow….wow…wow….use something different like "beep" or "beep" or "beeeeeeeep" grow some nuts down there!"

Atlas then turned to Mars. "What did we just do?"

Mars was pretty proud of himself. "Elementary metal shop mechanics. When you want to stop a crack? Drill a couple of holes. You guys must be perverts, what do you do in shop class all day, gaze at panties?"

Astro smirked at Atlas.

"Don't look at me like that!" Atlas snapped. "I had a better idea…just wanted to test Mars to see if he was paying attention that's all."


	22. Chapter 22

2pm

Monitoring Headquarters

"That was a good solution you came up with?" Cobalt said to Mars, which perked him a hundred feet and percolated his two fellows who had to endure the smaller bot's "Cock walking"

"It comes all natural when you've spent time actually paying attention in school. You guys are getting slow in your old age huh? Then again when you're a knock off you tend to be slower."

"Mars?!" Astro snorted. "Colbalt, stop egging him on?"

"Hey Bro. Keeping you three on pins with each other's working a nice benefit." Cobalt replied.

"For who?" Atlas snapped. "So what's the stall here? We know the device is on its way so when are we going to find a spot to set it up?"

"We're supposed to get with Mister Heslov and Mister Heverson." Astro said as the group entered the Castle. "Becky's been flying back and forth for a day taking topographical readings and mappings…"

"Of Astro's butt mostly." Atlas snickered.

"Waste of time." Mars huffed.

"Perfectly lame." Cobalt chirped.

"I'm being serious you guys!" Astro stomped. "Come on, can we focus on what we need to do instead of making a comedy of all this?"

"If we got too serious, we wouldn't function at all." Mars said as they walked into the monitoring room.

"About time." Greg Heslov said as he ushered them to a table with his lap top. "Becky pinpointed a location 25 miles West of here at an abandoned World War II tunnel complex that was being built for Emperor Hirohito and the Imperial family. By good fortune it's sitting atop a blocked lava chamber, sort of an anti-room right above the Magma chamber itself. It will take around 4 hours to drill if all three of you take turns."

Atlas groaned. "More digging?"

"You haven't done much of anything yet." Mars snorted. "Except complain like you always do."

"I could complain a fat lip for you if you'd like?" Atlas snorted back.

"Guys? We don't have time for this?" Astro said. "We didn't stop that fire curtain and the clocks winding exponentially short."

Atlas pointed to Greg and Terry. "We'll make better time carrying these two there, but they better not puke on us. Hope you don't mind going like mach 2?"

"You are serving peanuts and beer on this flight?" Greg asked.

"You'll eat what we give you. We're not JAL airlines here dweeb." Mars snorted.

2:17pm

Marine Corps Base, Iwakuni

"Tap….tap…." The maestro baton came up over his head and his bushy white Elvis like fur piece flopped over his eyes….

"Foof." The conductor blew the mess from his face and gently bobbed the wand up and down.

"Annnnnd a one, two three!"

"There's a yellow rose in Texas, that I am going to see,

No other mammal [sic] knows her, no mammal only me

She cryed [sic] so when I left her it like to broke my heart,

And if I ever find her, we nevermore will part. "

The stunt had people rolling in laughter, how silly can it look other than this odd assembly of over 200 different animals singing all at once being led by a small White Lion dressed in black overalls and red socks as if giving a wild "big fat flip off" to Mickey Mouse!

"She's the sweetest rose of color this mammal ever knew,

Her eyes are bright as diamonds,they sparkle like the dew;

You may talk about your Dearest May, and sing of Rosa Lee,

But the Yellow Rose of Texas beats the belles of Tennessee."

The Monkeys, baboons, gibbons and orangutans were standing together with their long arms draped over each other. Some festooned in crazy hats, others with bananas sticking through their teeth. They all looked like a bunch of drunk Sailors let loose on a poor port of call.

"When the Rio Grande is flowing, the starry skies are bright,

She walks along the river in the quite [sic] summer night:

She thinks if I remember, when we parted long ago,

I promised to come back again, and not to leave her so. [Chorus]"

Now add the elephants, giraffes, deer, antelope and horses who were trotting side to side making funny tongue dragging faces and trying to stick "Camptown races" into the whole silly mix.

"Oh now I'm going to find her, for my heart is full of woe,

And we'll sing the songs togeather [sic], that we sung so long ago

We'll play the bango gaily, and we'll sing the songs of yore,

And the Yellow Rose of Texas shall be mine forevermore. [Chorus]"

Kimba threw the wand behind his head and threw his arms out wide. "Ok! Tell me "It's a small world." Has anything on that! WORD!"

People were probably laughing for the first time in a whole, perhaps years since the great earthquake caused so much pain and foreboding of the future. Certainly the animals weren't too concerned. If they had been, the lions, panthers, tigers, bears and leopards would be having a field day.

"That was awesome!" Zoran stood clapping loudly. "You have to do that again!"

"I need a break." Kimba replied as he sat and scratched an ear with a hind paw. "I've been cooking up stunts for the past six hours."

"Sorry I asked." Zoran said as she follow Kimba about the parade ground where the animals were being kept.

"Did you say your brother was working on finding an answer to this mess?" Kimba asked as he stopped to pull a bail of hay towards an elephant's trunk.

"Yeah." Zoran replied. "I actually have two brothers. The taller one's an M.I.T. graduate."

"Well I'm an M.I.T. graduate too." Kimba said smiling. "Mammal in a tux. I keep hoping I'll end up in Hollywood but I never get noticed by anyone important. I need an agent."

Zoran crossed her arms. "I'm available."

Kimba gave her a glance. "I mean a real agent."

Zoran stomped a foot as the lion cub walked off. "How about I give you a real fat lip!"


	23. Chapter 23

**3:27pm**

**Abandoned Imperial bunker complex**

**Matsushiro, Japan**

Astro took a seat on a rock outside the entrance and beat a build up for dirt from his boots. The thick rubber gaskets never did work well enough and such accumulations from digging dirt caused foul ups in the retracting gears of his feet in flight. Someone had to stay at the opening to relay radio messages since reception under the ground and rock hills was poor.

"Beeeep!" "Uh huh?" Astro responsed to his call beeper.

"Hey! Something's not looking right here at all." Came Bender's voice.

"What's wrong?" Astro replied.

"The water coming back from Mount Fuji's got a khaki tinge to it." Bender replied. "It's not clear any more."

Astro set his radio and called Harry Dalton. "Doctor Dalton? Bender's calling me and saying the water at the reservoir is coming back khaki colored."

A moment went by before Harry replied. "Tell him to watch it closely, that's a sure sign that sulfer's invading that chamber which means there lava seeping. How's the pressure?"

"Steady and constant." Astro replied. "Bender? What about fuel for the pump?"

"I stole two fuel trucks a while back….I mean…..I appropriated them with sufficient I.O.U.'s. Aw heck, I stole the stupid things, I'm going to hell." Bender snorted.

"You can recycle yourself into a soda can at a later date for penance." Astro chirped. "Let me know if things get worse?"

"No problem. Bender out."

Astro leaned back and thought of the time. "Toshiro's gonna talk in five minutes. Wonder what Zorans' doing right now? Hopefully she found something to keep her busy."

Astro tried not to think of the worst case scenario, the prospect that the Earth would be so damaged that it couldn't keep the humans alive. The thought of only robots inhabiting such a planet always lurked in the back of his head and terrified him, which made him think perhaps he had a human soul and didn't know it. Worse would be the choices of which humans lived and which might have to die, he didn't want the job of making that. Images of his friends faces made him choke and for a moment he cried a river that got him soaked.

"Astro?" Came Becky's voice. "You alright?'

Astro wiped his face. "Yeah….just had a "suck moment" that's all."

"Guess the Emperor is getting ready to speak." Becky replied. "You guys will pull this off."

Astro smiled. "I'm glad you said that….putting it all on me really hurt. Wow….super bot turns into suck ass crybaby, go figure."

Becky replied. "But you're MY suck ass cry baby…If I had arms I'd cuddle you to death."

Astro smiled warmly. "I so love you…."

"Ditto." Becky replied.

**3:30pm**

**NHK Special Broadcast**

**His Majesty's special address**

Announcer: Fellow citizens of Japan…greater citizens of the world….at this moment in the history of Japan and for the whole Earth, his Imperial Majesty of Japan.

"Our Subjects…Our friends and neighbors of humanity."

"We make this special address on behalf of our subjects, the Japanese people, because of the direct threat made upon us by the Fuji super volcano which is in our land and therefore our direct responsibility. We make this special address to the world as it is under dire threat of immediate harm. We do not take this threat lightly. We beseech you, our friends around the world, to react with the same sober spirit as we do now."

"It is without question that this threat before us, if nothing is done to impede it, will result in the inevitable destruction of the world as we know it. Even one of such youthful age as I know this inevitability. All living things on this Earth shall perish, we can not escape that reality."

"That being said…our people and all the tallents that mankind could muster have devised a bold solution to this danger. An action which requires great boldness but not without great risk. We have in our possession a device capable of ending this threat or ending all life. We have a current reality we fear and a fear which could manifest a terrible reality. As sovereign of the Japanese people who is charged with caring for his people and further charged with acting responsibly for the prosperity of the world, I have decided to endorse this bold action."

"I understand….we all must understand that this great endeavor can not be done by a few nor ordered by one without the understanding of all. I shall repeat clearly…we face a reality we fear and a fear that could become reality. If we fail to act…we will die. If we act and fail…we will die but the result of inaction when the means are in our hands is a course of cowardice and dishonor I can not condone nor live with and so act we shall and leave the result to divine will greater than us."

"I ask my people….I ask all the world to pray, even if it may offend you. Prayer can not hurt, it can not bruise or ruin your life, every tittle and jot of hope is needed at this our darkest moment. We must all go over the cliff together or perish in cowardly fear. Let us not die like cowards."

"May divine province be with us from this time to forth no matter what the result. I will pray earnestly for victory."

**3:50pm**

**Abandoned Imperial bunker complex**

**Matsushiro, Japan**

Astro stood with his eyes shut as he took in every word until Atlas tapped him on the shoulder.

"We're done." Atlas said. "How many times have I said humans surprise me even when they're so stupid?"

"A hundred times I think." Astro replied.

Atlas took a moment to think. "I like him… that one's got guts. We should take him on our vacation when this is over. We'll get into all kinds of trouble."

Astro smiled. "You don't know the half of him yet."

"KABOOM!"

Suddenly there was a noise of such violence, such suddenness and such intensity that for a moment the two bots were thrown to the ground cringing and flopping about to keep their electronic brains from overloading and shorting out…

Mars came running up from the inside of the bunker to slide to a gasping stop at the entrance…

"OH….HOLY FUCK!"


	24. Chapter 24

**3:52pm**

**Monitoring Headquarters**

Reno was struggling to keep his feet as the Castle felt like it had jumped its foundation. He reached the front entrance, got thrown from the stairs and tumbled onto the grass to his hands and knees…

"Oh shit." He said as he shook his head and watched a towering column of ash blasting out of the summit of Mount Fuji.

"You're not going to sit there all day I hope?!" Harry Dalton yelled out as he and Brian Williams raced by into the castle.

"Oh no! I was looking for a good place to play Cricket! Isn't that what all you English guys do?!" Reno snorted as he ran to catch up.

Harry came through the door of the monitoring room and grabbed a radio off his desk. "Greg?! Terry?! Talk to me…what's your situation?"

**3:57pm**

**Abandoned Imperial bunker complex**

**Matsushiro, Japan**

Atlas get to his feet and steadied himself against the constant shaking ground. "Oh nothing, just having a tea cup social, a few doughnuts….WHAT DO YOU THINK OUR SITUATION IS YOU STUPID HUMAN DUMBASS!"

Astro walked by him. "Very diplomatic, how about you use some tact for once?"

"That was tact! Tactically the truth! This is messed up royally now I'm telling you…."

Astro switched his frequency. "Bender? Bender, tell me something I don't know yet?"

"We're boned?" bender replied. "That's obvious."

Greg walked up to Astro. "Obviously the magma surged into the water table and caused a steam explosion."

"Tell bag of bones there he's on target." Bender replied. "Oh yeah….the pump's history, the reservoir's history, I detonated the low yield tactical nuke as you asked."

"What?!" Mars reacted. "Low yield what?"

"Back up plan. A low yield five kiloton battlefield nuke we got from the United States Pacific Command in Yokosuka courtesy of General Armstrong. A backup in case things went South….course they did. It shut the tunnels up."

Atlas snorted. "America had illegal nuclear weapons in Japan against our laws…."

"Right now, go find a lawyer who will really do anything. I think Mars's lawyer's still in Tokyo crying to his mother in the rest room someplace." Astro said as he waved a hand. "Are you ok Bender?"

"Yeah….found a Jag, nice color, good interior, nice CD music selection, doin like 200 down the highway…good luck in stopping this thing man, I'll see you in New York."

Terry clicked his own radio. "Harry? Please tell me that device is somewhere close to being done?"

"Told you." Atlas snorted. "Should have let us robots build the thing. Bet you when it shows up it throws out a big stupid red joke "BOOM" flag…"

"How about you shut up?" Mars snapped. "Can't you do just one thing positive to kinda enhance a little hope? Sheesh you're like the worst human nightmare in my mind right now."

"You take that back!" Atlas snarled.

Astro pushed the two apart. "Both of you guys chill out! I don't think Mount Fuji gives a shit right now don't you think?"

"You're swearing more often." Atlas sniped. "Humans have really corrupted your programming."

Astro brushed the comment off and turned to Terry. "Mars is going to take you and Greg back to the Castle…hold up…."click"….Astro here."

"Are you still at the old bunker site?" Came the voice of Colonel Mustang.

"Yes. Uh….don't know what we can do for you right now Major but…."

"Not important." Mustang replied. "I have a little gift for you courtesy of general Armstrong. It's not exactly a pocket book item."

Atlas beemed. "The device? I take back all I said about these humans, at least they didn't stop for coffee."

Astro threw a thumb up. "That's great!"

"Uh…..not exactly so." The Major replied.

**4:10pm**

**Monitoring Headquarters**

**NBC NEWS SPECIAL REPORT**

Announcer: This is an NBC NEWS bulletin, we now go live to the Mount Fuji monitoring headquarters in Japan with Brian Williams.

Brian Williams: Ladies and Gentlemen you are witnessing live an event that has been feared by many, only a few moments ago we heard an indescribable explosion and now this. Mount Fuji is in the throws of a full scale eruption, the tower of ash from here looks to be around 20,000 feet, perhaps higher than that. This situation almost certainly speeds up the countdown clock towards a catastrophic super eruption of the Fuji caldera. My college Steve Martin is coming to the front of this room to give us an emergency update.

Steve Martin: Ladies and Gentlemen please…we still have people trying to fit in here, we can only fit a few more from the press in this room at the moment so those inside you need to toss your network allegiances aside for the moment and spread the wealth…

Right now the device that has been designed to take on this situation is in route to its place of detonation by the JMSDF. We expect to have it in place by 6pm barring problems then it's a matter of clasping our hands and praying like heck. Sorry to be so blunt.

Obviously things have sped up exponentially with this eruption, I can't give you exact time figures except to say the run-a-way train is now going 200 miles per hour than 60…you get the assumption.

**4:17pm**

**The old Imperial Bunker Complex**

Astro watched the H-53 Super Stallion fly off while Atlas looked down shaking his head…

"You…GOT to be KIDDING ME!"

Mars tilted his head. "What?"

"No detonator? No time clock? How are we supposed to set this thing off?" Atlas said as he looked at Astro.

Astro looked back. "Kiss it? Let's just get this thing down there and we'll work it out."

"The least they could have done is made it smaller." Mars complained. "It's a stupid and bulky as a couch!"

**4:36 pm**

**Monitoring Headquarters**

"Ok." Reno said as he typed fast over his computer keyboard. "Stromboli up… Unzen up…

Sakurajima up…. Kilauea up…..Etna up."

"If we fail, it will become very obvious." Cornelius said as he paced the floor.

"Always the paragon of doubt." Zira needled him. "I don't believe we can use that at this moment in time please?"

"Astro? How's it coming?" Harry Dalton asked as he stood watching the ever growing and darkening mushroom tower of ash expanding over Mount Fuji.

"I have to go inside to help the other two get this thing lowered into the hole. Have to say it's not the most maneuverable piece of equipment we've ever had to lug around."

"Beggars never get to chose." Zira snapped. "Just for the record, myself and Cornelius did not forget the timer in our planning."

"We'll forgive you." Astro replied. "We're just going to resort to flipping Mars to see who stays behind."

**4:42 pm**

**The old Imperial Bunker Complex**

"I'm going inside now so this is the last time you'll hear from us till this is over." Astro clicked off his radio and started walking for the entrance when a tone rang in his head.

"You're not even going to say goodbye to me?" Becky asked.

"What?! Why are you still hanging around up there?" Astro asked. "The ash is getting too thick for you Becky, get out of here now!"

"I won't till you promise me you're not going to do something stupid." The Predator said as it flew by overhead. "I know you Astro Tenma, you have a probability over 80 percent of doing something crazy."

Astro smiled. "Job description Becky. That's what super hero types like me do."

"You do it and I'll break up with you!" Becky snapped. "I'm serious Astro! No crazy heroics, promise me?"

"If I did? I'd be a liar." Astro replied. "But if you have a Hellfire missile handy? A close explosion would solve your problems."

Becky flew by once more. "Just go and get this over with! You're impossible!"

Astro waved as Becky flew off. "Yeah…I'm an A ranked pain in the butt but you love me."

"Do you mind cutting out the stupid cyber sex Don Juan and help us lift this stupid thing?" Atlas complained from inside the bunker.


	25. Chapter 25

**5:11 pm**

**The old Imperial Bunker Complex**

Astro and Atlas backed away from the bulky device that was the size of half an 18-wheeler and stood brooding while Mars walked around it.

"So how are we going to set this thing off?" Mars asked as he pointed a thumb.

Astro reached into a pocket and pulled out a cell phone. "Bingo."

Atlas cocked his head. "Huh? You carry a cell phone?"

"Kinda redundant and obsolete isn't it?" Mars asked.

Astro didn't answer before he reached over, popped open Mars's chest door and started groping around inside him. "You…don't need a clock. "Plink!"

"HEY! WHAT THE HECK?! GIVE THAT BACK!" Mars screamed.

"You'll live." Astro replied as he snapped open Atlas's chest door and groped him! "You don't need…G.P.S." "plink!"

"UGH! YOU VIOLATED ME!" Atlas snarled.

"I'll deck you and leave you here if you want?" Astro replied smiling as he popped off the back panel of the cell phone and started messing around with the circuit board. Chewing off the plastic shrouds of the wires he took and soldering them in place while Mars and Atlas looked over his shoulders…

"Nice idea." Mars chirped. "A home made trigger?"

"You figured it out!" Astro beamed as he waved the contraption in his hand. "You get a star on your forehead…Atlas gets the dunce cap."

Astro walked over to the device and started wiring his home made trigger to the firing computer. "Unfortunately? This isn't a perfect trigger. The battery's low…"

Mars smirked. "You carry a cell phone and you don't even bother to keep it charged?"

"I'm not listening to you right now." Astro replied. "Second problem is I can't set this phone to set off the device more than seven seconds. Once I push the "send" button I have to go balls to the walls to get away from here. Mathematically speaking it's gonna be a squeak and a rats eyelash to get out the front door ahead of the explosion."

"Well you…..WHAT?!...we haven't made a choice yet?' Atlas snapped.

"Don't need to." Astro replied. "I'm faster than the two of you, that's not in dispute."

"Oh? So all of a sudden you judge yourself as the hero in this whole thing without even giving us a chance?" Mars snorted. "You don't know even half the things I can do and all of a sudden mister big and bad Astro's made himself Captain Marvel…"

Astro snatched Mars by his scarf. "There's no question about it! It's a logical choice backed by fact and you know it. Don't push it Mars, I'm not going to argue nor waste the time we have on settling things with a spoiled brat. Now you and Atlas get out of here! I'll be right behind you."

Mars waved his hands. "Alright! Alright….you win." He said frowning as he backed away.

And no sooner had Astro turned around…Mars jumped forward, slapped his hands on Astro's shoulders and threw enough voltage into Astro's body that it threw him to a dust clouded slam against the wall of the excavated cavern.

"Told you, you didn't know half of me you dufus!" Mars snatched Astro up and threw him over Atlas's shoulder…."Get out of here."

"What the hell?!" Atlas snorted. "Better not turn your back…"

"Oh shut up!" Mars sniped. "It's not like I'm doing this because you guys have girl friends. If something happened to Astro? It wouldn't be a week before you'd start acting like a stupid dumb ass and give all of us a bad name! Astro's the only thing besides Epsilon that keeps you level headed and don't give me the same old "I hate him." garbage."

Mars walked over to the device and grabbed the cell phone. "Besides…you two get enough press. Now do you start flying or do I press this?"

Atlas smiled and shook his head. "You understand that of the three of us? You're the slowest?"

"And you're the most worthless, big deal." Mars snorted back. "My thumb is getting tired?"

Atlas took off in a cloud of dust as Mars stood licking his lips and taking a stand like a kid at a school track meet….."Just don't let me trip please?" he said looking upwards before mashing the green button.

"Beeep!"


	26. Chapter 26

**5:30:07 pm**

**21 June 2013**

From each end of the device, a single electric spark ignited an initiation charge and threw two identical half-moon bowls of plutonium down a long spiral gun barrel towards a single sphere of Tiuteotrintium 324…

The combined collision set off a hell storm.

**5:30:07:.7 pm**

**21 June 2013**

**Monitoring HQ**

**NBC NEWS LIVE BROADCAST!**

"Crackle" God! "Crackle" God in heaven! "crackle" Brian…. (picture/sound cutoff)

**5:30:07: pm**

**21 June 2013**

**Fuji Caldera from remote camera**

Before it was destroyed by falling debris, anyone who would have watched the constant feed internet camera would have seen the ground bulge like a balloon had suddenly inflated below it. Shafts of light, brilliant white shafts burst forth from direct openings to the magma chamber itself. These were soon replaced by quick and fading tints of blues as the device went from a thermo-nuclear state of existence to that of the absolute killing effect of deep space itself.

**5:30:08 pm**

**21 June 2013**

**Monitoring HQ**

Reno was holding on for dear life. It felt like the Castle had rockets in the foundation, it literally launched vertically before crashing back to Earth and had it not been built so flexible it might have collapsed! He kept a tight hold on his lap top, keeping all the windows of the volcanoes he was watching from closing.

"Please don't go out, please don't go out, please don't go out…." He was saying over and over as parts of the ceiling started falling all around his desk. "Please don't kill me….please don't kill me…..please don't kill me…."

Harry and Steve Martin were thrown backwards through a new hole in the wall and into the grass courtyard where they saw the ash column from Mount Fuji suddenly cease…

The various vents around the caldera ceased…..

The fire curtain ceased….

The vent at the golf course…..the amusement park…..the hot springs….the steam pits…..the

Water geysers…..all suddenly quit.

**5:40 pm**

**21 June 2013**

**Ushijima Village, 15 miles South of Mount Fuji**

The violence of the detonation had thrown Atlas and Astro all over the place. Atlas sat up to find he'd been tossed into a tree…

Astro wasn't so lucky…he was thrown through a sewer cleaning truck and landed in a mud pit.

"Ugh…." Astro said as he sat up and winced.

"Oh man…." Atlas said holding his nose. "Oh man…you stink!"

"Why did you let him shock me like that?!" Astro snapped.

"Don't ask me!" Atlas snarled. "Go find a place to wash!"

Astro stumbled about. "Did…..did it work?'

Atlas looked around then looked at Mount Fuji. "Well….Fuji's not blasting. Doesn't mean we didn't wreck the whole planet though."

Atlas set his radio while Astro found a backyard pool to jump into. "Hey! Anyone alive?" Atlas asked as he threw Astro a box of detergent.

"crackle"…..yeah! Still here!" Reno replied. "You guys alright?"

"Don't know yet…working on that one." Atlas said as he leaned against the pool. "Mars? Hey Dorky Smurf you vertical?"

Atlas got nothing back.

"Mars? Answer me, stop playing around." Atlas tried again and got nothing back.

Astro looked at him with worry. "Stop looking at me like that and keep washing! I'm sure he's ok…Mars? Cut the stupid fooling around and say something!"

**5:46 pm**

**21 June 2013**

**Monitoring HQ**

People were still picking each other up as Reno got out from under his desk and studied his lap top…."Unzen, still here. Stromboli….still here. Sakurajima….still active. Anak-Krakatoa,

Kilauea, St Helens…all still active."

Harry and Cornelius stood with Zira. "Give it another hour and we'll know for sure." She said as she wiped dirt out of her hair.

"Astro? Is everyone ok?" Reno asked in his radio.

"No." Astro replied. "We can't raise Mars."

Reno looked at everyone else in the room. "When things calm down we'll get you guys some help. Just don't get stupid out there till we know everything's safe."

Atlas replied. "Typical answer we're not inclined to obey. I swear if that little smart ass is hiding on us there's going to be a serious beat down…."SMACK"….OW! OK WE'LL KEEP LOOKING!"


	27. Chapter 27

**10:08 pm**

**21 June 2013**

**Old Imperial Bunker Site**

Atlas flopped down next to Astro and threw a rock in frustration. "Nothing! We have humans, robots, UAV's, choppers, jeeps looking all over the place and he's no where!"

Astro traced a finger around in the dirt at his feet. "I told you he was slower than us."

Atlas stood up and grabbed Astro by the arm. "Let's look again!"

Astro almost started to say something when Atlas pushed a hand into his face. "Zip it and look again!"

Astro made a deep sigh of resignation then looked up the slope of the hill over the bunker to a tower of ice that had been forced through the small mountain by the explosion deep below. Just for a sudden wisp of a good luck wish, he flew up to the frozen spire and flew around it a few times….

"ATLAS! ATLAS GET UP HERE!"

Atlas flew up next to Astro and peered into the mirky white color of the ice to see a small figure trapped deep inside.

"WE FOUND HIM!" Atlas yelled. "RENO?! WE FOUND MARS!" Atlas was about to blast away with his arm cannon when Astro caught it.

"No! He's been flash frozen! You thaw him too quick and you'll fry every circuit he has. We'll take our time and dig him out." Astro balled his fists and started to slowly chip away at the ice. "You're not going to just sit there right?"

"You sure we want to get him out so soon?" Atlas asked. "It is a little peaceful around here, why ruin the moment?"

**9:43 am**

**22 June 2013**

**Akiharaba Technical School**

**Yuroshishimara outside of Shinjuku**

Zoran and Ken came running up the hallway with Tamao and Abercrombie following behind them to where Astro and Atlas sat brooding outside a door with Harry Dalton and his crew, Brian Williams, Steve Martin, Cornelius and Zira. Zoran almost picked Astro up off his seat giving him a choking hug…

"I love you too….guck!" Astro said as he stood up. "Sis?"

"How is he?" Zoran said worryingly. "Is Mars ok?"

Astro stood patting his fingers together. "Well….he got caught in the expanding flash of ice when all the moisture in the lava turned to steam. Reno and Doctor O'Shay have been in there since 3 am…he….hasn't woken up….but don't worry! You know Reno and Doc, they haven't failed yet have they?'

Atlas groaned. "That stupid little dumb ass."

"WHAT?!" Zoran reacted angrily. "YOU TAKE THAT BACK!"

"It's true!" Atlas snapped back. "He knew that your brother was faster than the two of us yet he wanted to be the big and bad hero of the day! Never bothered to think about anyone else, oh no that's to complicated…"

Astro shook his head. "Atlas….stop making excuses for yourself? You're leaking out the right eye by the way."

Atlas winced. "Well damn it! It's not…IT'S NOT FAIR! We shouldn't have to just throw away our lives like this! How stupid can anyone be not to put a timer on a nuclear device…."

Astro walked up and patted Atlas on the shoulder. "Go ahead and cry…you think the world's gonna be shocked that the mighty Atlas is a cry baby…big deal."

Suddenly the door to the lab opened and Reno came walking out. The look on his face foretold the moment. It was bad enough to make Brian Williams turn and send his camera man out of the building.

"Uh…" Reno stood with his hands clenched. "We…we couldn't….he's not waking up."

Atlas kicked a chair down the hallway and stomped off.

"I'm sorry guys….I…..he's gone."

Zoran shuddered, then looked at her brother, then started sniveling, then started balling, then she lost it…

Reno reached out a hand. "Astro? You…..you should come in here…"

Astro looked down at Zoran and rubbed her head. "I'm surprised you're so upset. He teased the heck out of you in elementary school."

"I…..know!" Zoran replied as she balled….."But he was sooooooo cute! Stupid bully!"

Astro held Zoran as they walked through the door. The first to hug them was Cobalt. "I'm sorry brother…it was just too much."

Zoran looked past her brothers to the still body lying on a table and threw a fit. "YOU DUMMY! WHY DIDN'T YOU LET ASTRO SET THAT THING OFF!"

"Gee…I feel the love." Astro replied.

"SHUT UP!" Zoran snapped back as she walked up to the table. "You were SUCH a stuck up jerk Mars! You teased me because you were so jealous of my Brother! And yeah, at times he is a stupid moronic dufus copycat!"

"Hey, hey….easy on the truth Zoran!" Astro snapped till Cobalt caught him.

"Don't stop her bro, she's on a roll."

"You couldn't see that I really….really…really thought how cute you were! I made you that super huge Valentine in 3rd Grade! But now you'll never know because you're dead!"

Zoran threw herself over Mars and cried a river. "Mars! Come back! Come back!..."

Astro walked up behind her and gave her a hug. "Sis….."

End of 27


	28. Chapter 28

Suddenly….two hands clamped to the sides of Zoran's face and a pair of sloppy wet lips met hers in a shocking embrace!

Mars jumped to his feet, pointed his fingers at Zoran with a sneer on his face! "I GOT YOU! I GOT YOU! DODGED ME FOR SIX YEARS AND I FINNALLY GOT YOU!"

Outside the assembled people in the hallway were an air of somber gloom…till the screaming in the room caused them to jump and scramble for safety…

"YOU JERK! YOU IDIOT! YOU SELF-CENTERED, STUPID, CRAZY MORONIC JERK!"

"ZORAN! PUT THAT FILE CABINET DOWN!"

The door was blasted off its hinges and went crashing through a wall along with the file cabinet that had crashed into it!

"RUN! SHE'S NUTS! RUN FOR YOUR LIVES!" Mars came screaming out of the room and tore down the hallway ducking as Zoran emerged with a slide and chucked another file cabinet like a missile!

"YOU'RE DEAD! WHEN I CATCH YOU, I'LL TURN YOU INTO A CHUNKY SOUP CAN YOU STUPID IDIOT!"

Astro emerged to see all the people in a state of shock.

"Hehehehe….she absolutely loves him….really…..she's ok….ZORAN! PUT DOWN MISTER WILLIAM'S VAN! HE DOESN'T OWN THAT THING! ZORAN!"

"CRASH! CRASH!..."

**Epilog**

**Noon**

**July 10****th****, 2013**

**Ueno Park, Tokyo**

Announcer: This is the NBC Nightly News with Brian Williams. Reporting from Tokyo, Brian Williams.

Brian Williams: From your time zone ladies and Gentlemen we join you from Ueno Park in Tokyo where thousands have gathered in thanksgiving at what we can call our second chance to get things right. As you know by now the gamble to stop the Fuji super volcano has worked, perhaps for some a little too well since Mount Fuji has been rendered all but extinct but time will tell if that will remain so…

People here have gathered to honor three reluctant heroes among many and I call them that because they confided in me that they're not too keen on public adulations, specifically one told me I could quote him directly…"Humans are silly, they'd rather throw a dinner party than change the annoyingly smelly cat box." Unquote. A little light humor to close a situation that for some time had us all shaking at the door of our own death.

I see his imperial highness the Emperor of Japan is making his way onto the podium now so let's pick up what he will say….

Toshiro: Our subjects….good friends. We are all here to thank the many who risked their lives and worked with divine providence to save the world. Not all these heroes can be present behind me but the four robots we shower with gratitude today for their special efforts will magnify the depth of feeling and love we will always have for all our heroes. Please join me in showing our affection and appreciation.

As the red curtain opened, the cheering crowd suddenly turned silent…

On the stage was not four robots but one small white lion cub. Who sat licking his privates clean before the entire world audience…

Kimba stopped…looked up and dropped his mouth in shock. He realized he'd been lied too.

"Son of a bitch." He said with a frown.

**National highway**

**Heading towards Osaka Airport**

Mars was laughing himself silly as bender turned the television off. "LOL! RIOT! RIOT! DID YOU SEE HIS FACE?!"

Astro sat in the passengers seat of the convertible. "Toshiro is going to be soooooo ticked off."

"We told him not to expect us." Atlas said as he adjusted his sun glasses while he was driving. "By the way Astro…glad to hear about Becky."

"Yeah." Astro replied happily. "The President of the United States himself told the Air Force General who was boss. Doc says it'll be a year before she's in a new body. And she wants me to pick her a new name."

"Call her Nicky!" Bender said. "I had a dog named Nicky, best dog I ever had."

"I'm not naming her after someone's dog Bender."

"Nicky's a cool name though." Mars replied. "I like it."

"Majority." Atlas said smiling. "Shut up Astro."

Astro sat back. "I didn't vote for this Democracy."

"Well this IS my bachelor party so I make the rules." Atlas said smirking. "By the way? Since we'll all be hanging out for the next six months? Where are we starting things off?"

"Thailand!" Bender snapped. "I always wanted an original Mai Thai. What you children do is your problem."

"They got a large Tiger preserve there!" mars said happily. "I also have a friend in the Royal Family, we'll have a blast!"

Astro cocked his head. "You don't think we'll get into too much trouble do you?"

Atlas smirked. "Oh no…no…..we'll be perfect angels….a few things just might get broken by accident because we got out of hand that's all."

Astro chuckled. "Admirable self denial."

"My butt's thicker than yours…" Atlas giggled. "Spank proof. Sucks to be you goody."

The end


End file.
